Terror

[Deleted member 27340]

This isn't a trigger to me, it's just something I want to talk about.

On July 22nd 2011 there was a terror action in Norway, I don't know if you've heard of it. One man shot and killed over 70 adolescents and also killed 7 people by blowing off a car bomb. I was 11 that year, and kinda freaked a little when my dad told me about it.

This summer there was a terror threat against Norway, and I was on a summer camp at the time. This time I figured out because the police had called the leaders of the camp and the leaders then notified us. The camp was inside the threatened area.

Just now I read a news article about terror again being a potential threat. Terror might occur within the coming 12 months. Our country is not big, if something happens in Oslo it's not like "it's so far away it doesn't matter". I can remember when we passed 5 million people. We're few, and everything feels so close. I was on an island on July 22nd, and despite the island being on the west coast and the attack occurring in Oslo (far east), it was still really freaky.

We're also close to Russia. Putin flies over Norway and Sweden all the time, recently I think there was a russian submarine outside Sweden. It's probably nothing to worry about, but we've got Ebola, the middle east, terror threats, and the ever-lasting tension between Russia and the United States. It's so much to worry about and I can't stop reading about it either because we all need to know what's going on around us, you know?

I seriously believe that the amount of disturbance in how things are needed to start WW3 is minimal.

I'm overthinking now ain't I

 

[Little Flower]

No you're not. My son is working in Sweden. Wtf is going on

 

[Little Flower]

I've had the same fears. I watch n read a lot of history. U a. re not unfounded in your fears but must separate imminent danger from possible danger. I think over how Americans n other nations handled other wars. We are imperfect Man cannot always see what they do now affects the future. We lack leadership and fortitude. Maybe women need to take over hehe
Try not to worry outside of your circle of influence. Do the best you can. You'll never regret that. And remember. We're here. Don't let ur thoughts undermine you

 

[Deleted member 27340]

@Little Flower I have no idea. Putin's crazy as f*ck and we can't shoot down his fighters or blow up his submarines either because he's got all those nukes and will probably go nuts and start a world war or something like that. THERE'S 243 NUKE MISSILES JUST BY THE NORWEGIAN BORDER, FFS.

I'm trying, but it's a little hard. My best friend, also resourceful and way ahead of our same-aged peers, just recently had pretty bad paranoia problems because of all of these conflicts. I guess that's the downside to understanding the world around you.

By the way, just for the interesting part of it: Women actually often do better in leadership positions because they're more capable of sympathy from nature because they need to raise children. Just think of England and the queens (actually, in England, if the first born is a king he cannot be alone, he's got to have a queen. If a gueen is the first born, the man she marries will not be king, but a prince, and she doesn't even have to have anyone by her side on the throne).

 

[bell]

Erm, whoa. Take a step back here and try to stop whipping yourself up into a frenzy.

The world is huge. Bad things happen. Bad things have always happened, we're just at a point with technology where we hear about them more often and quicker. And news wants ratings and "if it bleeds, it leads."

I'm afraid there is no upswing. People always estimate bad things are going to happen because there are bad people out there. Thankfully, there are more good people out there than bad, but that news doesn't sell as well.

Paying attention to the bad stuff causes bad reactions. I'd urge you to find the good stuff, too, and rethink this notion that things are worse than they've been before, because things have always been bad. And the good always outweighs the bad.

Also, while I understand your concerns, being on an island is not a bad or dangerous thing. One guy made one day on one island bad. That does not mean that islands are bad places.

 

[Little Flower]

We are strong. We are invincible ( not really bit we try ). We are woman


I can't control the insanity around me
I can try There is no do there is only try

 

[Little Flower]

My son is there. I shall react as I please. No offence intended

 

[Deleted member 27340]

Oh, I didn't mean being on an island scared me more; it was just to underline how being at the opposite side of the country really doesn't matter at all. It takes you less than 7 hours to drive from Bergen (far west) to Oslo (far east, by the Swedish border).

Yes, not everything's gotta be a potential life threat or whatever, but there ARE really lots of stuff going on around here now. Like I said: There are 243 nuke missiles near the Norwegian border. You don't need many of those to wipe out the whole population.

 

[Little Flower]

I know. My son a pacifist can't text no more. Imploding sadness

 

[bell]

By all means @Little Flower act as you please, but adding to a post started by someone as young as @Trauma with your adult, familial-based worries about your son? Just tempering that with the notion that this is all nothing new. Bad? Yes. But nothing new.

I remember hearing stories from people my parents' age of when they were children thinking the world was going to end due to political greed. Kowtowing to that fear makes others win and makes people stop living life, if we all act like the world is going to end what are we doing to our future?

 

[scout86]

@Trauma , when I was a kid we also lived in fear of nuclear war. They used to have practice drills where we were supposed to hide under our desks. (Why, I have NO idea, because it was obvious, even to an 8 YO that that wasn't going to work!) It was one of my recurring nightmares and I spent a lot of time thinking about how to survive the apocalypse. (You might try reading some of the books written about that, as kind of an opposing view.)

I agree with @bell, there has always been bad, scary stuff in the world. We hear about it from far and wide now, when a couple of hundred years ago we only heard about what was down the street.

What happened in July of 2011 was terrible. I have relatives in Oslo, so I paid a lot of attention to the news. (One works in one of the damaged office buildings, but wasn't at work at the time.) The Norwegian people have a history of courage, creativity, and heroism. Do they teach you in school about what the Norwegian resistance did during WWII? There are some amazing stories. That's how we deal with terrorists. Giving in to the fear and letting it run your life gives them a victory they don't deserve.

BTW, I completely agree about Putin, but what do you expect from a guy who worked for the KGB? I think, in the end, he'll come and go like all the others.

 

[Friday]

I generally take the attitude of looking at what I can do, as well as what I'm willing to do.

One of my favorite jobs is disaster response. Sometimes I'm already hooked up with an agency, other times I simply pack a bag and take myself off to the nearest (or most interesting) disaster and lend a hand. Warm bodies are always needed.

I remember the first disaster I sat out. Tsunami in Thailand. I literally closed my phone in the middle of dialing, and went in and looked at my son sleeping in his crib. And I stepped back from the world. I don't invest in total ignorance. I like still knowing what is going on with the world. But if I'm not willing to go take an active role in it? I refuse to worry about it.

This drives my best friend absolutely insane. But she's in politics. Her job is to worry about things she has absolutely no way of doing anything about. Myself? If I'm not photographing it, dragging people out of rubble, fighting, or kicking supplies off of this bird onto that Tarmac? I'm wasting my time I could be putting to other uses.

I waste enough of my time in anxiety, trauma, etc. Since this is one area I can shut off? I shut it off. Or, if I can't, then I get up off my ass and go do something. Even if it's "just" training or recertification. While most disaster response is fairly unskilled work... Action kills fear.

____

What can you do? Just from what I know of you:
- You can climb. Which is a useful skill in most disasters.
- You can assess & plan & keep your head in chaos and pain.

Those 4 things already put you way ahead of the curve. In the event of something happening locally? Given half a chance, you'll not only be fine, but be able to keep yourself & others safe.

- You're in school. Setting yourself up for independence & a sustainable lifestyle.

That's NEEDED. Both now and in the future.

What else? What can you do to kill fear? To set yourself up in the event of a disaster or terror attack? If X then Y. Are there training a you can attend? Evac routes to familiarize yourself with? Etc.? Or are you already doing exactly as you need to be in your life?