Monday morning questions

Posted on July 31st, 2006 by Jackie Danicki

1) What do you fear?

2) What have you never had enough of in your life?

Filed under: Life

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11 Responses to “Monday morning questions”

  1. nancy, on July 31st, 2006 at 4:53 pm Said:

    1. Committing the fatal error; that violence will befall those I love; mold (as in, the green hairy kind); that public stupidity and lack of personal responsibility will become so endemic it infects common sense, kindness, beauty and progress; any snowballing moral failure that creates, supports and sustains the Stalins/Pol Pots/Hitlers/Qaddafis of the world, though I think fear may be the wrong sentiment here. How about, rage?
    2. The hard work=reward equation.

  2. Jackie Danicki, on July 31st, 2006 at 5:34 pm Said:

    Hmm. Would you be mad at me if I said the infection is already rife? Yes? Sorry. xx

  3. nancy, on July 31st, 2006 at 5:43 pm Said:

    Yes, it’s there, it’s spreading.

  4. Christian Johnson, on July 31st, 2006 at 6:12 pm Said:

    1) I fear loneliness. For when I think of those things I fear the most, it always ends up that emptiness and solitude with consciousness are what cause me dread. Take death for example. It isn’t the actual dying which frightens me, though the though of pain is discomforting, it is the fear of “void” which would require consciousness to even experience. Rarely do I actually fear death, I have faith (i.e. Hope) that something exists after life, but even lacking faith I have faith that I will have no consciousness if there isn’t anything. In a way the vary awareness of void implies something more, but void is what terrifies me.

    2) Friends and loved ones. Genuine friends and not faux friends.

  5. Jackie Danicki, on July 31st, 2006 at 6:17 pm Said:

    Christian, your comment just reminded me of how highly Cathy and others speak of you - and often! (I know you were just answering a question, but I always try to let people know about the good reputations and high regard that they may not be aware they possess.)

    For myself, I would rather be lonely than in excruciating and persistent physical agony. But maybe I have forgotten what loneliness is like, in which case, foolish me…

  6. Mark Holland, on July 31st, 2006 at 11:23 pm Said:

    Fear? Post 666? Ulp!

  7. Christian Johnson, on August 1st, 2006 at 2:59 am Said:

    Excruciating pain is a tough one. Obviously it is something to be avoided, maybe beyond almost anything else. But it is also something that I don’t know is “guaranteed.” Particularly in the persistent physical agony iteration.

    Hm…lonliness vs. constant physical agony. I think I would chose lonliness. That said, I don’t think I am afraid of constant physical agony, it seems distant and unlikely. I’m probably naive in that assumption.

    Of course if you take constant physical agony vs. constant physical agony with awareness but void, I’ll take the first. Not that either is really good.

    As to your other comment, WOW! It is flattering to hear, or rather read, but I am insecure enough that I will forget that I read that within minutes I am sure.

    Of course, I neglected to mention my worst fear…Do you remember Demolition Man where “all restaurants were Taco Bell.” My fear is that “all films star Ben Affleck.”

  8. Paul Doleman, on August 1st, 2006 at 9:22 am Said:

    1. Compulsory secondment to a celibate monastic order in Birmingham
    2. Sex

  9. alecm, on August 1st, 2006 at 10:37 am Said:

    1) after several years of consideration of the question and consequent change of myself, perhaps i’m just not imaginative enough but i don’t really fear anything. there are things which irk me, things which bother me, there are certainly things that pain me (especially at the moment) but for several years now i’ve not been aware of anything worth dreading.

    2) never had enough of? that’s an easier question, and it can be continuously answered. hedonism aside, i’ve never had and will never have had enough sunrises. never enough sunsets, either. smiles. friends. birdsong. mist-covered meadows. fallen logs. babbling streams. conversations until the wee hours. ideas. experiences. “aha!” moments.

    in short, although some deride it, some war in it, some wish to denigrate it - or at very least feel it unsatisfactory enough to change it - one can never have had enough of the world.

  10. Jackie Danicki, on August 1st, 2006 at 11:14 am Said:

    Alec, I wish I could agree with you on the first one, but I’ve recently seen friends go through some of the most horrific emotional pain posssible…and I know there are things to fear. I think I knew that anyway. (I am very much in agreement with you on the second one, except that I’m not as big a fan of the outdoors as you. I’d replace your fallen logs and babbling streams with banana splits and cute handbags.)

    I talked about this with Antoine last night, and it was funny how the very worst things I fear rarely enter my head. Usually, I just worry about the little things (losing my Tube ticket, getting blisters from the stupid shoes I wore for city walking, annoying Antoine with my latest shopping spree - even though he so rarely expresses annoyance with me - and so on).

    As for what I’ve never had enough of, the answer is pretty easy: self-discipline. At least there’s something I can do about it.

  11. James Hamilton, on August 1st, 2006 at 9:03 pm Said:

    1. I’m torn between - on the one hand - dying without having achieved what I know I want to - and on the other hand - boredom; I’m very afraid of being bored, in an existential way. My idea of hell comes straight from a woman’s report of a nasty NDE that cast her in the middle of a dark, empty place where there was nothing to do and no one to talk to: she found herself longing for knitting or a crossword in a way I found and find heartbreaking.
    2. Time in the places I love - Edinburgh, London, Oxford - with enough money to truly enjoy them.

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