September 16, 2009

Irrational Fear

I like to take walks through the Salt Lake City cemetery. In fall and spring, I often see small groups of deer munching on grass. Since deer often wander down from the mountain, I wonder if mountain lions or cougars occasionally follow. I have this irrational fear that I'll be walking through the cemetery and see a cougar prowling around the headstones.

When I have this thought, I immediately look around and try to figure out what I'd do if that happened right then. If I ran, would I make it inside the little brick bathroom? Would I be too petrified to run? If I found a big stick, would I try to hit the cat in the face? If I saw it go after someone else, would I run away? I'm sure my instinct would tell me to run away, but I wondered today if that was what I should do. So I pulled out my trusty old internet and found out what to do if you see a mountain lion. Pretty much: DO NOT run away. Open up your jacket to look bigger, throw rocks, make noise, and give plenty it of room. But do not run away. The more you know!

3 comments:

SWILUA said...

good to know.

Megan said...

Josh and I both decided we would be more afraid of the supernatural spirits haunting the cemetery than a cougar. We discussed this at length. That is our conclusion. We're probably just wimps.

Jamie said...

Yes, not being afraid cougars is VERY wimpy.