Are you brave?

[RedlightG20]

Listening to Riggo these past few days, he and the guys often spoke of how Sean Taylor died while defending his family. Admirable as it is, it got me thinking a little bit of myself and what I would do if I found myself in a similar situation.

Certainly none of us know exactly what happened in that house the night of the shooting, but from what I gather from multiple articles, here is what I envision what went down.

In Sean's bedroom, his girlfriend is awakened by noises of an intruder. Sean gets a machete, opens the door, and walks carefully around the dark house to investigate. At some point, two shots were fired, the intruder flees, and Sean struggles to make his way back to the bedroom to his frantic girlfriend.

I see this all happenening in the DARK.

So thankfully I've never been in a situation like this. I live in a good neighborhood and can't imagine what I would do if I had to face an unknown individual in the dark. It's just a scary thought to me, and I laid awake last night just thinking what would I have really done if it were me. Sure, I'd like to think I would step up and fight, but the only way to test your bravery is if you are in a situation where your nervous system says its time for fight or flight. Again, I've never been in a situation like that.

When I was in college, I lived in an apartment complex of all college students. Since I work near school, I always stayed during the winter and spring breaks. Needless to say, there were probably six cars in the entire complex during this time. I was watching TV in my apartment at night and heard some comotion outside in the parking lot. I looked out the window, and there was a guy weilding a knife and had two college kids laid on the ground. He was robbing them. I wish I had a baseball bat. I wish I had a gun. Within 20 seconds the guy was making his way to a car off in the distance, and I had called the police. I wish I went out and confronted the situation, though.

Every once in a while, I think I do hear noises outside of my house at night. I usually turn on the flood lights, open the door and circle the house unarmed. Never found or heard anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I'm just neurotic.

I question my bravery sometimes, but there is never an opportunity to really answer that question about myself. Part of me longs for an opportunity, another part wishes I will never be in a potentially harmful situation.

Simple question. Are you brave?

[Zguy28]

Simple question. Are you brave?Bravery is overrated. Anybody can be brave.

Courage is a whole different matter.

[stevenaa]

There's bravery and there's stupidity. If you are secured in a room, it would be stupid to go confront and unknown situation. If you have family in other rooms then you do what you have to do. I've been awakened by loud noises and had to rush out of the room to investigate because I was sure someone was there. My kids rooms are upstairs, so my instinct is to protect them. Fortunately it's been dumb things like a book falling over or suction cup shelves letting loose in the bathroom (That is extremely loud an startling.) Bottom line, if you are in bed and someone busts into the house and bee lines to your room to shoot you, it's unlikely you'll come out on the winning end even if you have a gun on the nightstand. In the few seconds it takes for you to come to your senses, you'll be shot.

Had you rushed out to help those college kids, you might have caused the assailant to run and no one would have gotten hurt, which is what happened anyway. Or he might have attacked you and wounded or killed you. Unless you had a gun, you did the right thing. Heck, even if you had a gun and used it, you'd just as likely been tried for a crime as the real criminal.

[Ax]

Nobody knows for sure what they would do.

So many times people say, "Well, I would've ________"

Well, maybe.

Maybe they would've just pissed their britches too.

[Destino]

When my blood is cold, no. I like to say that my fight or flight switch is stuck on flight. First sign of danger I turn into a super hero in reverse. I can leap tall building in a single bound and move faster then a speeding bullet... away from danger. I feel sorry for the little old lady between me and the nearest exit should something go wrong.

If however I happen to be mad about something or my family is threatened in any way all bets are off.

[rincewind]

When my blood is cold, no. I like to say that my fight or flight switch is stuck on flight. First sign of danger I turn into a super hero in reverse. I can leap tall building in a single bound and move faster then a speeding bullet... away from danger. I feel sorry for the little old lady between me and the nearest exit should something go wrong.

If however I happen to be mad about something or my family is threatened in any way all bets are off.



Costanza. :laugh:





You're post actually sounds a lot like my namesake. :)

[RedlightG20]

Costanza. :laugh:

I was thinking the exact same thing.


Cut back to George attempting to explain his cowardly actions to Robin, her mother, Eric and a fireman from the back of the ambulance at the party.

GEORGE (voice is hoarse from screaming): I...was trying to lead the way. We needed a leader! Someone to lead the way to safety.

ROBIN: But you yelled "get out of my way"!

GEORGE: Because! Because, as the leader...if I die...then all hope is lost! Who would lead? The clown? Instead of castigating me, you should all be thanking me. What kind of a topsy-turvy world do we live in, where heroes are cast as villains? Brave men as cowards?

ROBIN: But I saw you push the women and children out of the way in a mad panic! I saw you knock them down! And when you ran out, you left everyone behind!

GEORGE: Seemingly. Seemingly, to the untrained eye, I can fully understand how you got that impression. What looked like pushing...what looked like knocking down...was a safety precaution! In a fire, you stay close to the ground, am I right? And when I ran out that door, I was not leaving anyone behind! Oh, quite the contrary! I risked my life making sure that exit was clear. Any other questions?

FIREMAN: How do you live with yourself?

GEORGE: It's not easy.

[pjfootballer]

Hard to say what anyone would do in that situation. You don't know until you live it.

[The_cavalierman]

The fact is it depends upon the situation.

I have witnessed incredibly capable people lose it under fire.

Generally speaking bravery gets you killed

Courage to do something even though you are scared s***less is more admirable.

[Forehead]

I'd like to think I am, but who knows, I've never really been in that sort of situation. I know for a fact that if it was my wife or family, I would do whatever is necessary, even if it meant my life, to protect them. But for complete strangers, I just don't know. I've been near situtions when stuff has gotten started, and have thought to myself...you know, you should go break that up. However, it seems that while my brain is thinking that, the body never moves fast enough.


Maybe they need to be close friends or my own blood for me to take decisive action, who knows. Hopefully I never have to find out.

[Forehead]

Does anyone have a clip of that Costanza scene? I was never big into Seinfeld, but that sounds like something I'd enjoy.

[jpillian]

Courage to do something even though you are scared s***less is more admirable.

Quoted for truth. This is the absolute bottomline.

First off, when you are truly scared, it's hard to take action period.

Second, once in motion, it's pretty damn difficult to fight off the urge to preserve your own skin and do something selfless.

[chascougs]

Courage or bravery is not the absence of fear, it is doing what needs to be done in spite of the fear. I heard this years ago and it's still the best definition for me.

[Chachie]

Courage or bravery is not the absence of fear, it is doing what needs to be done in spite of the fear. I heard this years ago and it's still the best definition for me.


Good post.

[RedlightG20]

Bravery is overrated. Anybody can be brave.

Courage is a whole different matter.

These two words are synonymous. So this makes no sense. :whoknows:

[Enter Apotheosis]

These two words are synonymous. So this makes no sense. :whoknows:

You've just unwittingly provided the post that serves as a catalyst for a debate over semantics :doh:

[RVAbrendan]

Does anyone have a clip of that Costanza scene? I was never big into Seinfeld, but that sounds like something I'd enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URvMd-pjSMc&feature=related


Hilarious.

[Air Force Cane]

Everyone in the military knows that EVERYONE is scared when under fire, or when deploying. The point is that it takes COURAGE, that even when you are afraid you still do your duty.

Hopefully, your training will help you perform as the stress takes over. If you have practiced pistol markmanship, and if you have planned what to do during a home invasion, or have had practice at 'clearing a room' with a weapon you will be better able to do it over a person who is clueless and never thought about it.

as for me, I was afraid about being wounded in Iraq, but I still volunteered three times for deployment to Baghdad. You can still be afraid about what might happen, but you have to accept the risk and move on.

and the initial premise seems to be incorrect- I heard that Taylor got up and locked the door but it was kicked in and then he was shot and bled out in the bedroom..

[RedlightG20]

Agreed, Air Force Cane. I don't believe that anyone is really eager to just jump into a tough situation on a whim, but in your case, you are trained to deal with a number of scenarios. At the same time, you would be more confident that you can help--unlike most people who don't have your experience.

Anyone can agree that if it were a father protecting his family, like in ST's situation, he'd do what he had to do. That would lead to me having a different POV since I don't have a wife or child than to those who do.


and the initial premise seems to be incorrect- I heard that Taylor got up and locked the door but it was kicked in and then he was shot and bled out in the bedroom..

Yep, I wrote this post earlier this morning after reading an article (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=An162V8dWTW8aLYQhmswroU5nYcB?slug=jc-taylorreaction112707&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) on Yahoo that said he went through the house with the machete. Then on ESPN they had an interview with Sharpstein who said it all went down in the bedroom. Oh well.