Scared Stiff

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WotD: Scared Stiff

Where does being scared stiff fit into the fight or flight response?

They say that when faced with danger, most animals will fight or run away.

I suppose that’s true for the most part, but what if you’re so scared that you can’t move?

You see it in horror movies all the time.

People become so scared that they cannot run away from the guy with the chainsaw.

The victim stands there like a sitting duck, waiting for someone to kill them.

Notice I said, ‘You see it in horror movies,’ I said that because I never watch horror movies.

I can’t stand them; I never could.

I was nine years old when Michael Jackson released his Thriller album and couldn’t watch the video for it on MTV.

It’s not that I was scared stiff or would be now; I don’t see the sense in horror.

But whatever, to each their own and leave them alone.

I’ve often wondered how a deer feels right before it gets hit by a car in the middle of the night.

It happens in my neighbourhood often.

The increase in the deer population seems to be positively correlated with the decrease in the human population.

That’s a story for another day.

Let’s get back to the deer-in-the-headlights phenomenon.

When a deer is in the middle of the road and sees a car’s headlights coming at it, is it thinking, ‘What the heck is that? Is that a UFO?’

Or are they merely scared stiff, and unable to move out of the way?

I suppose we’ll never know.

It’s one of those experiences that few deer live to tell their friends about.

If you’ve read this far today, thank you very much.

I should tell you that being scared stiff means you’re so frightened of something you can’t move.

It’s a moment of panic and indecision.

Look both ways before crossing the street, everyone.

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 6th-grade education (age 11).

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.