Why are they afraid

When I was small, my grandmother steeped me in certain affairs so that I would be aware of the liabilities. Look both ways when you cross the street and don't cross unless you're with an adult. Don't talk to strangers. Don't take gifts from strangers. Tie your shoes. Wash your hands. It's a dirty world, I know now, and as much as I avoid strangers -- there are streets I have to cross. Sometimes I'm not with an adult. I'm 31, and I got hit by a car when I was zipping across a main street, so she was certainly on to something but there is a point when I have to stop and realize that there is more fear than respect.

She would tell us that we had to have all of our halloween candy examined because people put LSD in it. Who the hell puts LSD in candy for kids? It makes sense maybe to dose oneself, perhaps, but just to put it in a candy? I don't get it. For a long time, I've had to rest on the notion that god protects the innocent and the stupid. For as long, I've been in the stupid category. Never have I noticed any acidlike effects, but I don't like candy that much.

The world -is- a dirty place. There are tics, mosquitos, candiru, and herpes out here. I don't like them, but I avoid them. I don't live in fear that something unexpected and bad is going to come down on me, because it would be unexpected. I'm also superstitious and many days are rife with synchronicity in symbol and event, but I'm not going to conjure up all sorts of baddies with a fearful preoccupation. I'd swear that the universe can smell fear, like blood in the water, and it's just not the way.

Once you're on the way you're on the way. When I've had to bluff my way through preposterously dangerous encounters with the law, or engage with the most desperate and predatory in the worst neighborhoods, I succeed when I relieve myself of fear and handle what is. I'm not spending my heart and mind on fear. That would suck.

Besides, it's a thrill to swim in the ocean at night. I just wear a swimsuit, I don't want my dick chomped off.