Describe a situation or event during which you felt awe, and another where you felt real fear. What caused the difference between your reactions? What made one scary and the other awe-inspiring?
A situation I felt awe in was when I was standing in front of the wide ocean watching the sunset. I was in awe because I was amazed and I wasn't worried, but I saw how small I was to never ending ocean and the bright light in the sky. I felt real fear when I was on a cruise ship and there was a thunderstorm, and there were waves crashing on the boat and I was in real fear because I was fearing for my life because I thought that the boat would crash and sink because there would be no control of the boat. I was not in awe at the waves I was actually afraid of how big the waves were. The sunset was awe-inspiring because I realized how big the Earth actually was and how small we were. I was inspiring to watch and I was amazed of how our environment is and what it does everyday.
There are numerous times where I have felt both fear and where I have been in awe at the creations of this world. A very memorable time that I was in awe was when I was at camp last summer. Actually, it happens every July on Sunday evenings. I go to camp at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. On Sunday evenings when the sun is setting, we have a chapel service outdoors. The view is spectacular. Our outdoor chapel is nestled in the hills and rocks of the hill country of Texas. It's truly a beautiful sight. Right as the sun is setting, the exciting day starts to cool off, the sun set hits the rocks that we look at as we as a whole gather. Last summer, it was an especially bright day, the sun was a certain tint of orange and red that was indescribable. It hit the mountains and gave the mountains a new shade. The wind picked up and it rustled the trees all in the hill country. It was spectacular. That was a moment where I was in awe. On the other hand, I have also had many moments where I have been in fear of something so much greater than me. I was about 6 years old, walking down town with my father when I wanted to go to work with him one day. He took me to lunch, we walked to a nearby restaurant. The walk was scary for me. As a six year old, I was small. Way smaller than the people in a hurry to lunch, people talking loudly, people arguing, the buildings so massive and huge around me. My world was small then, not much had I known. The things that I was really scared of were the buildings and buses. They were so huge. The buildings felt as if they were going to collapse right then and there, like there was no support or foundation. I held my father's hand tight as we walked down Fannin in downtown Houston.
One situation that made me feel awe was when I went to the Bahamas a few years ago and went snorkeling. Once I got in the ocean and looked under the water, I was amazed at what I saw. There were tons of fish and other sea animals of many shapes and sizes. The combination of the schools of fish and the sea plants was like a rainbow under water, everywhere I turned. There was a reef, which was so beautiful and home to so much sea life, that I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I was so surprised that all of this could be happening when you can't see any of it from above the water. That made me aware that life is still happening everywhere, even if I'm not aware of it. One time I felt fear, was on that same boat trip, when I went swimming with stingrays. I was fascinated, but I was also afraid, because one wrong move could make them angry. They were much bigger than me, and they had me surrounded. I enjoyed the experience, but I was very aware that stingrays can be a threat to my life.
A time when I felt awe was when I went hiking in the mountains by my house. It was a couple of summers ago when my Dad and I went hiking in the mountains. When we drove up to the base of the mountain I thought it was pretty big. It wasn't until we started walking up the mountain that I realized just how enormous the mountain really was. As we made our way up the mountain the view just kept getting better and better. After about 2 hours of walking we finally reached the top and walked out onto a ledge. As I looked out around me I saw one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. The mountain we were on was the tallest around and we could see everything around for miles. I even saw a little speck in the distance and realized it was my house. A time when I felt fear was when I crossed the Potomac river. As we were crossing the bridge to get across I looked down and saw how vast the river was. It was a considerable drop down and the river was almost a thousand feet wide. It didn't help that there was considerable traffic on the bridge. It took a couple of minutes to cross and I was terrified that the bridge would break at any second. I think the difference between the two reactions was that in one I felt that I was vulnerable and there was nothing I could do to save myself if things went wrong. Whereas in the other situation I felt safe and secure which led to me being able to really enjoy what was right in front of me. Both of these experiences I will never forget.
The most memorable situation that I felt awe occurred when I standing at the top of a mountain and looking over a forest and some lakes that were in the distance. There was nothing that could hurt (except for wild animals, tripping on a plant, or falling off of the cliff on the mountain) while I was up there. I felt real fear when I was in a nature preserve for crocodiles (not alligators). My family and I went onto a small boat to get a closer look and I saw a crocodile try and jump out of the water aimed straight at me. Luckily there were bars on the side of the boat to prevent them from getting in. I also learned that day that crocodile's breath smells horrible.
One time I felt awe would be when my family went on a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park, near Seattle, Washington. Its one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. There are pockets of meadows filled with multi-colored wildflowers, ringed with tall, rigid pine trees. Mt. Rainier rises out of the greenery, long and sloping, its steel gray stone and white snow harsh on the rest of the verdant landscape. Furry beaver-like marmots scurry behind rocks tinged with lichen and gorge themselves on deep violet lupine. The day we visited the sky was a cloudless blue. My brother and I had rushed ahead of our parents on our hike and came to a curve in the trail where a group of tourists chattering away excitedly in Chinese were gathered. An enormous black bear was lumbering through a small clearing. His fur shone a glossy black and his long, tan snout was buried in the grass. I was close enough that if I took a few steps forward, I would be able to reach out and pet him as easily as I would my dog back home. My brother, who was only 9 at the time, quickly backed away to join the tourists of various nationalities, his eyes wide. I pushed my way to the front of the group. I knew that though they have a bad reputation, black bears are harmless unless provoked. I felt awe because though the creature in front of me was big and powerful, he was also gentle and majestic. The fact that I was secure in the knowledge that the bear wouldn’t hurt me left me able to appreciate its sublimity. Every summer my family visits our lake house in Michigan. When I was little, my uncle used to tell me stories of fish called “tiger musky” that lurked in murky green depths of Big Bear Lake. They enjoyed nibbling on the toes of young swimmers who ventured out into the center of the lake. Tiger musky can grow to be six feet long and have long, muscular bodies rippled with dark grey stripes. For a long time, whenever I went swimming and saw even the faintest shadow in the water, I would swim as hard and fast as I could toward shore. I felt real fear because the fish were unknown and mysterious, as I had only heard of them in my uncle’s stories. The one thing I was certain of, however, was that if I ever encountered one it would be the end of my red, white, and blue polished toes, which I had painted so carefully for the 4th of July. To this day I have not witnessed the elusive fish, though some of the old fishermen on the lake have told me their accounts of witnessing tiger musky skeletons washed up on the shore.
One summer my family went to our house in Aspen Colorado. We ussually go everyother year and have tons of fun. We hike, fish, go to town, and just relax. This story is about one of our hikes. It was my dad, my brother Nate, and me. This was our first overnight hike and with our luck nothing could have gone right. as we started thing were prety easy and we could see other hikers. Later on after 30 minuets as we got further along the trail the less people we saw. This trip was in early june so all the snow was just now starting to melt. this made for rushing water under skinny fallen tree bridges. after two hours or so the rain started, then the lightning and thunder. Soon it was a full on storm. Thunder crashing after blue static streaks of arching lightning arcoss the sky. As the rain fell we took shelter under a huge tree and just laid down to let it pass. It was no dull rest howerver and I began to feel small and insignificant to these emensaly powerful forces of nature around me. Each time we saw a bolt of lightning a loud clap of thunder was sent down and bounceed around the vally sourouned by mountains magnifying the sound to make an amazing sound. What made this moment so awe inspiring was that all I could do was lay there mesmerized and in total awe of this storm and the power of the nature around me. One experience of fear i have had was my second year of camp. It was my first long term(or a month away) and I was nine years old. It was the first night of the term and i was thinking of all the things that i would get to do. Then I thgought of home and parents and got a little home sick. Then I remembered hoew I always had water by my bed at home and immediatly got thirsty. I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the water fountain. I have no idea how i got the courage to leave my cabin at who knows how late but i did it anyway. Howerever once outside all my cofidance seemed to melt away. It was pitch black exept for a few tree lights way off. I kept hearing noises and saw shadows moving. I began to remember stories that my counselors had told me the other year. Soon I was completly shaking and it felt like I had been walking for hours.I was completly terrified. Finnaly I filled up my water bottle and ran as fast as I could back to the cabin and quickly fell asleep without drinking a drop of water. What made this experience so terrifying and reminds me of fear is because as a little kid you always think of the worst case senario. Also with my imagination and mnd racing I kept seeing all the shadows and eyes looking at me. It just show how yuor view can completly change a situation.
A time when I was in fear, was when I was walking in Park City, Utah with my parents and my sister Nadine, and out of nowhere, I started throwing up on the side of the street. A time when I was in awe was when I looked out of the window of a plane and all I could see was water when I looked down. It was amazing, it is easy to say that mountains and oceans are enormous, but no one can truly comprehend how large something that continues past what you can see is until they witness it themselves. When I was in Park City, I was afraid because I did not know what was happening and my throat felt like it was burning. I was afraid because there was nothing to do to stop it and I would just have to hope that it would end soon. I did not know if something even worse would happen next, and I was actually scared. Though when I was in the plane and I saw the endless water, I knew that it was not going to hurt me. I knew that it had no malice, and simply just existed. Even though the vast ocean was so much bigger than I was, I did not worry that it may spontaneously attack me. I was in awe of the ocean and respected it. I think the difference was that I did not know what would happen next when I was throwing up, but I knew that the ocean would be the same and not attack me the next moment.
One winter break we went to Whistler, Canada to go skiing. We were with another family who was a bit more experienced than my sisters and I were. But we found an entrance to the ski slopes and we decided it looked pretty easy so we went down but i soon realized this was not an easy run. After not skiing for almost a year it was becoming very hard to handle it seemed to be more of a black which i was not comfortable on the first day usually. I looked down the steep mountainside and i was struck with fear. I thought there was no way i could go down safely so instead i took off my skis and walked across the side to a catwalk which connected to the area near the road to get back to where we were staying. I told my mom i would wait for her there and so she took off. She was gone for a very long time and i knew she didn't have her phone on her so i waited a long time for her to come back. I was just thankful i didn't have to go all the way down the mountain. A time when i was in awe was when i was in New York City for the first time. Yes it was a bit crowded but everywhere i looked there were masses of people and pretty buildings so much taller than us. It made me feel very small but at the same time part of something big and important. I was especially in awe of all the beautiful buildings at nighttime which were all lit up in preparation for Christmas. I loved the feeling of being in that city even though at times it made me feel very tiny.
I felt fear when I visited Joplin Missouri over the summer. Earlier 2011 a tornado devastated the small town. I went to Joplin for a baseball tournament a few months later. I had heard about the damage on the news but I could never have imagined how bad it actually was. We drove through what used to be neighborhoods. All that was left of the houses were the cement foundations. I felt fear when I looked at the power that this tornado carried. This was a flourishing small town in the middle of America months before. When I arrived though it looked like a battlefield. I look from a hilltop and I could see that the devastation stretched for miles. I felt sick knowing that these people were living their normal lives until a tornado swooped in and took it from them in just minutes. I felt awe about five years ago when I looked over the Grand Canyon. I was in awe at how vast the massive canyon was. It stretched from horizon to horizon. Standing on the edge of the cliff I realized that I was at the edge of something that has been forming for millions of years. Its great depth also astounded me. The cliff dropped for several hundred feet before reaching the ground. It was a truly awe inspiring moment.
A situation where I felt awe was when I visited the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. Yellow Hat Buddhist pilgrims who had travelled for years in order to finally arrive in Lhasa completely filled the streets and the temple. The euphoria that came with their arrival shone on their faces as they all surged into the temple. To me, I felt as if a larger force, something so much bigger than me, was directing these people to come to this one place for only once in their lifetime. It was awe inspiring to see how this one strong belief could motivate these people to spend so many years of their life traveling and praying to finally arrive in their destination. A situation where I felt fear was last summer, when my dad, sister, and I were maybe an hour away from the summit of Longs Peak, the tallest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountain takes nine hours to summit, and then you have to go nine hours down. For the first six hours, a difficult hike finally takes you to the base of the Diamond, or the final stage before you summit. However, in order to ascend to the top, you have to climb and not hike since their are no trails and it is a steep ascent. When I was hiking, it was easy to have a feeling of awe of the entire park as I could see more and more as I hiked higher. But the second you start climbing, it became a whole new feeling. What if I slip? What if the rope comes out of the protection? Of course these things rarely ever happen to climbers (if they know what they are doing), but the only thing I was thinking about was 'what if?'. In the end, we made it safely up and back down, but that fear I had experienced makes me think about that ascent every time I look at Longs Peak.
A time when I was in awe was when I was at the highest point of the mountain Machu Picchu in Peru. I took us two hours to climb the montain and two hours to come back down. Once my mom, brother and I got to the very top, my mom took a picure of my brother and I lying down on the tip hanging out heads off the mountain. I was in awe beacuse I could see the top of all the other mountains around us. I don't really remember a time with I was filled with fear but I remember once when I was with a few of my friends, we went rapping and this guy stopped infront of where me and my friend were hiding and I peeded in my pants because I was freaking out! The situation I was in was the difference between my two reactions. Almost getting cought was scary because we had just figured out that rapping was not really a legal thing to do. Being on top of Machu Picchu was an awe-inspiring situation because I felt so small compared to what I was looking at. It took two hours to get to where we were and once being on top I could see everything!
A situation where I felt awe occurred when I watched the musical Damn Yankees at Stratford Playhouse. The exact moment when I felt this awe, I was sitting in the front row, and the main character ran up to the point of the stage that was right in front of me. He sang his note perfectly, and held it with perfect vibrato. When he reached the top of the stage a beam of bright light shined around him, and smoke appeared out of thin air around his lower body. A situation where I had fear occurred last summer. I was at play practice, and my grandparents came to pick me up. Usually my nanny picks me up, but my grandparents and my little brother sat in the car. My dad was in the hospital. Multiple complications with his diabetes caused him to pass out behind the wheel of his car. Luckily, he pulled over before he did. The doctors thought he had a heart attack. It was the scariest moment in my life to see my dad on a hospital bed. The difference of my reactions are that I was in awe because of the feeling I got when the lead sang his song. It was so beautiful that I got goosebumps. I was in fear of my dad being in the hospital, because I was scared and worried that I would lose him. They are totally different feelings and emotions. I was in awe because I was happy and excited, and I was in fear because I was sad and worried.
One time when I felt awe was at the beauty of a sunset. This particular sunset was at Church Mountain at Camp Longhorn. It is a beautiful place in general with a cross in the direction of the setting sun and when the sky changes all different colors it is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I'm in awe every time I see this sunset which is twice a year during the summer. Its beauty always takes me by surprise and definitely inspires awe. In contrast, I feel fear when I am not in complete control of my body. I'm scared of that feeling when your vision blurs and you feel like you might faint. When you can't keep your balance and your head feels like it is spinning. This has happened to me only a few times, but when it does it scares me. I guess not knowing what to do or not knowing what your doing worries me.
When I was in seventh grade, we took a school trip to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is so unbelievably enormous. As you stand by the railing, looking over the edge, it seems to stretch on forever. As if a giant carved a giant trench into the Earth's surface. The first time I saw it, in seventh grade, I was in awe that their could be such a giant crevice in the Earth. The Grand Canyon is such an amazing awe-inspiring place. It is almost impossible to fathom how such a thing could be created. A time that I have felt real fear was just last year. I was staying in Galveston with some friends from my old school, and we decided to go down to the beach to go swimming. My friends and I were swimming around in the water when suddenly, out of nowhere, I couldn't touch the bottom anymore. I tried desperately to swim back to my friends, but the waves were too strong. Every time I caught my breath, a new wave would steal it from me once again. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered my sister telling me that whenever you get stuck in the ocean, to swim with the current. Taking note of this, I started swimming at a diagonal, and slowly made my way back to my friends. When I got back to my friends, my legs were exhausted. My friends all said that the same thing had just happened to all of them as well. It was terrifying to realize how easily that my life could be taken from me at any moment. It's not that I was afraid of death, but I was afraid of how unexpected death was, and the fact that I could have drowned. I obviously didn't die that day, but it let me to become more aware with how I spend each day. What made my reactions different between these two events, is that in the first, I was in no danger. I was observing the sublime from afar. In the second event, I felt that I was in danger. The second that I felt in danger, my emotions immediately switched from awe to fear.
An event when I experienced pure awe was when I spent three weeks in Bariloche, Argentina with my family. We stayed in this beautiful house right on the lake. Our view from every window of the house was the breath taking lake surrounded by mountains. I would look at it and be speechless. I would have to take a step back and just have a moment to myself. I was in complete awe of Gods wonderful creation. One time that I was being chased by a dog at ranch is when I was in complete fear. I touched one of its puppies and the dog lost it. I have never ran that fast in my life before. That is truly the moment I had complete fear. When I was admiring the view in Bariloche, I was just thinking how privileged that I can live in a world like this one, and experience things like this. When the dog was chasing me I was not in shock I was running for my life. If I would of stopped, the dog would of bitten me. When something is awe-inspiring it makes you think like how cool is this! When you are in fear, all you are thinking is, how can I make this moment go away and bring it back to normal. That is the difference with being in awe and being in fear.
In seventh grade I went to Colorado with my grade. We went hiking to the top of sugarloaf mountain which took most of the early morning because it was so high. When we got to the top, my whole grade got in a tight circle and we looked over the edge together. It was such an amazing moment because of the way that it felt to be on something so powerful and great, but to be so small and insignificant at the same time. The view from the mountain was something that I will never forget and being up there as the sun rose was an awe-inspiring moment. I remember feeling complete fear when I was sixth grade and I was in Austin with my aunt and uncle while my parents were out of town. One night I had a horrible asthma attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. I remember not being able to breath and thinking that I was going to pass out. It was such a scary moment because there was nothing I could do to help myself. The difference between these two situations was the way I felt during those moments. When I was on top of sugarloaf mountain, I had no fear because the amazing view and experience that I was having totally took over me and I didn't even have time to feel nervous or scared because I knew it wasn't going to hurt me. When I was having my asthma attack, I had utter fear because I didn't know what was going to happen and I was scared that I was really sick.
Over winter break, my family and I went to Hawaii. One day, we drove to a black rock beach. We stood on huge formations of black, volcanic rock, overlooking the vast ocean. The waves were colossal, and crashed against the tall rocks when they collided. Not only the rocks, but the way the sun's rays reflected against the water in the distance was just amazing. Standing on the mounds of volcanic rock and looking over the endless ocean, I couldn't help but be awestruck. One time I was in fear was a few years ago, when I was about ten years old. It was the middle of the night, and I was sleeping, until I was woken by the loudest thunder I have ever heard. It sounded someone was almost bellowing, screaming at me, like I had done something wrong. I got out of bed and looked outside my window. It was so dark, but in a very creepy way. When I saw the setting, I felt like I was almost on another planet, all alone. It felt like I had done something wrong, and now the skies were, in my mind at the time, threatening me. I felt helpless. One of the similarities between awe and fear is that both make you feel inferior, smaller. The difference between the two is that awe may make you feel smaller, but it usually has no negative effect on you. There is usually a positive effect, whereas fear makes you helpless, and there are usually no positive effects of it.
I was completely struck with awe when I visited the pyramids at Giza. I've seen the pyramids a million times, whether in textbooks, movies, or cartoons. However, the real spectacle really had me dazed for quiet a long time. I felt great respect for the ancestors that were able to accomplish such a task, a task that could leave a modern human in awe millenia later. A natural event that would have me in fear would undoubtedly be a hurricane. I remember fleeing Houston for Austin a few years in the past for fear of a hurricane predicted to waltz over our beloved metropolis. After learning about the great destructive powers of a hurricane in science class, my fear was only amplified. I would guess that the reason that the pyramids are awesome and hurricanes terrifying is that hurricanes can destroy and pyramids cannot. The fear of an item lessens dramatically when you know for a fact that it cannot cause you harm nor sadness. Such is the case for my fear of hurricanes and my admiration for the pyramids.
One situation in which I felt awe was when I heard that some marines had gone and secretly killed Osama Bin Laden. I felt this awe because he had planned the 911 attacks on the US and his soldiers and followers had been killing many people in the countries like Iraq, with similar acts of terrorism. I felt some fear as well because some new leader who might be younger and be more able to do acts of terrorism might take his spot and be worse than him. And for a while I was really afraid until the 911 10th anniversary had passed. I felt real fear once when I was sailing and a giant thunderstorm rolled in. It was windy to an extreme, and I could barely keep control over the boat, as I tried to sail into the harbor. With lightning louder than fireworks and it raining so hard I could barely see 30ft in front of me. One of my friends got electrocuted a little bit and really started to freak out. In this situation I was really afraid for my life and mostly scared out of my mind. I think the real difference for me between the awe inspiring moment and the scary moment was that the moment I found scary really effected me more because it happened more directly to me, and the awe inspiring moment was more distant from me and it wasn’t really likely to affect me in any real way.
A time when I felt awe was when I went snorkeling in the Bahamas. The water was bright and clear. As I swam through the clear ocean I was accompanied by graceful sea turtles and schools of fish whose scales reflected off the bright light extending from the surface. I was amazed by the beauty and serenity of the crystal clear ocean. There weren’t any bottles scattered across the ocean floor. A moment I was in fear was on Christmas Eve. My family and I were out to dinner when I remembered that I never turned off or unplugged my curling iron that I used early that morning. My mom had numerously told me how it was extremely dangerous to not unplug or turn off my curling iron because of how flammable our house is. I was so fearful because I had no way to control the situation. If I came up to a house up in flames there would be nothing I could do. I could not just apologize and make everything better. The reason I felt awe when I was snorkeling in the Bahamas was because I was so amazed by the complexity and beauty of nature. I was amazed by the purity of the ocean because I am so used to seeing smoggy air and polluted waters. I was scared by the fact that I could of caused a fire in my house because it was something bigger than I could control.
I didn't have an awe experience on the mountains or on some vast landscape because I haven't been on one yet. However, my experience was with an animal. As strange as it may sound this experience had a big impact on me. There were two experiences in the same day I went through. I was at the zoo with my little sister a few years ago and she wanted to go see giraffes because she likes the print on their skin. So we walk up to the place where the giraffes are kept at and immediately my jaw just dropped. I've always read about how tall giraffe's are and how long their necks are but when I was standing right next to it, I felt like an ant. Actually I felt smaller, like a prokaryotic cell! To be honest, I actually felt a little intimidated because im used to being as tall or taller than everybody else. So the giraffe made me feel short( imagine that!!). In my other animal encounter I felt fear when we went to go see the Lions. I'd never seen an animal's hair color so delicately woven and intertwined with one another as that of a lion's mane. I stood up against the glass and the Lion approached the glass towards me. I flinched and backed up a little forgetting there was glass separating me from the agressive king of the jungle. He/She stood up on their hind legs, and I felt short again ( two times in one day was enough for me). What put me in fear was how strong the Lion looked, even though it was just lying down. I was for sure that the lion would pounce and break the glass at it's command, disregarding the zoo keepers' rules and regulations. I believe the difference between my awe and fear had to do with the types of creatures and their attributes. It's more common for one to be scared of an animal that is a carnivore who chases its prey down and eats it raw, rather than the placid giraffe who's a herbivore and eats leaves off the treetops. So to be able to distinguish the difference of my awe and fear, I had to look back at the actions that happened. When I saw the giraffe, I had a jaw-dropping moment (awe), but when I saw the lion come towards me in the same manner the giraffe did, I flinched and moved back a little (fear).
A moment in which i felt awe has to be when my family and I hiked the Andy's Mountains. The feeling of being that high up was crazy. One of the days we spent there we went paragliding off the mountain and I was just amazed but the view and how high up I was. I was actually like in the clouds. Bein around objects that big really shows you how small you are. The fact of being that high up might seem scary but your really just in awe. A time I've been in fear was when I was little and we went to disney world and we rode the Jurassic park ride and the dinosaurs scared me because of how big they were. Even though both objects were big, one was an amazing site and the dinosaurs were ugly and mean looking. I have no fear in the mountains because I just knew that i was safe. The ride scared me because I had a fear that something was going to get me!
Last summer, me and my family went to Spain to see where my brother was studying. We went to all the sights and one of them is the Sagrada Familia. It is this huge church that Gaudi started building over 100 years ago and people are still building it! I was in awe at how tall it is when I went inside. You look straight up and there is tons of pretty art on the ceiling. I can't imagine how hard it was to get that up there! It is really magnificent and the only way to truly appreciate it is to experience it yourself. One time I experienced fear was when we were driving back home from visting our grandparents in Waco and there were reports of tornadoes all around the area we were in. We were scared because it was really dark and you could hardly see anything. We pulled off the highway and tried to find a place to stay, but all the hotels were filled up, so we waited for what seemed like a long time until we decided it was ok to get back on the highway. It was around midnight by the time we finaly found a motel to stay in and I usually didn't stay up that late. It was a stressful night overall and I feared for my life a couple of times. The difference between my feeling of awe at the Sagrada Familia was completly different than how I felt night. I was definitly not in awe of the heavy rain, lightning, thunder, and strong wind, but I might have been if we were inside our house.
Awe is a truly amazing feeling. This past summer my camp added four ziplines going from one mountain to the other, getting higher and higher with each one. The final one, "Zip 4," is actually 200 feet above the camp and 700 feet long. You are suspended by one rope attached to a single steel wire and once you're ready to go you spring off the platform and come out from the trees. Wow. I spin myself around in the air while soaring across and it's truly awe-inspiring. You see the mountains of in the distance that were never visible before and you the the rest of the camp and how it's nestled in the beauty of nature. Here I was, little me out on a zipline, suspended before all of nature. Now fear is much different from awe. When I was little, I used to be afraid of being out on a boat. When my family was at my cousins' lake house, we took the boat out on the lake. I refused but was forced to go. I sat on the floor of the boat the whole time hoping we wouldn't sink. I didn't trust the boat. It was me and my family, on a boat, in the middle of a giant lake. I was scared the whole time and just hoping we would survive. I felt helpless, scared, vulnerable by this situation. Much different from the amazement and wonder I felt on the zip line. While both sensations can make you feel small, awe is peaceful and fear is most definitely not.
A moment when I felt fear was when I was scooba diving in the Barbados and a shark was within 10 feet of me and my sister. I was scared because I thought it was going to attack us. A moment that I felt awe was when Obama passed universal healthcare. I was in awe because it was so dumb its ridiculous and its going to bring down this country in my opinion if it doesn't get appealed.
A situation I felt awe in was when I was standing in front of the wide ocean watching the sunset. I was in awe because I was amazed and I wasn't worried, but I saw how small I was to never ending ocean and the bright light in the sky. I felt real fear when I was on a cruise ship and there was a thunderstorm, and there were waves crashing on the boat and I was in real fear because I was fearing for my life because I thought that the boat would crash and sink because there would be no control of the boat. I was not in awe at the waves I was actually afraid of how big the waves were. The sunset was awe-inspiring because I realized how big the Earth actually was and how small we were. I was inspiring to watch and I was amazed of how our environment is and what it does everyday.
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous times where I have felt both fear and where I have been in awe at the creations of this world. A very memorable time that I was in awe was when I was at camp last summer. Actually, it happens every July on Sunday evenings. I go to camp at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. On Sunday evenings when the sun is setting, we have a chapel service outdoors. The view is spectacular. Our outdoor chapel is nestled in the hills and rocks of the hill country of Texas. It's truly a beautiful sight. Right as the sun is setting, the exciting day starts to cool off, the sun set hits the rocks that we look at as we as a whole gather. Last summer, it was an especially bright day, the sun was a certain tint of orange and red that was indescribable. It hit the mountains and gave the mountains a new shade. The wind picked up and it rustled the trees all in the hill country. It was spectacular. That was a moment where I was in awe. On the other hand, I have also had many moments where I have been in fear of something so much greater than me. I was about 6 years old, walking down town with my father when I wanted to go to work with him one day. He took me to lunch, we walked to a nearby restaurant. The walk was scary for me. As a six year old, I was small. Way smaller than the people in a hurry to lunch, people talking loudly, people arguing, the buildings so massive and huge around me. My world was small then, not much had I known. The things that I was really scared of were the buildings and buses. They were so huge. The buildings felt as if they were going to collapse right then and there, like there was no support or foundation. I held my father's hand tight as we walked down Fannin in downtown Houston.
ReplyDeleteOne situation that made me feel awe was when I went to the Bahamas a few years ago and went snorkeling. Once I got in the ocean and looked under the water, I was amazed at what I saw. There were tons of fish and other sea animals of many shapes and sizes. The combination of the schools of fish and the sea plants was like a rainbow under water, everywhere I turned. There was a reef, which was so beautiful and home to so much sea life, that I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I was so surprised that all of this could be happening when you can't see any of it from above the water. That made me aware that life is still happening everywhere, even if I'm not aware of it. One time I felt fear, was on that same boat trip, when I went swimming with stingrays. I was fascinated, but I was also afraid, because one wrong move could make them angry. They were much bigger than me, and they had me surrounded. I enjoyed the experience, but I was very aware that stingrays can be a threat to my life.
ReplyDeleteA time when I felt awe was when I went hiking in the mountains by my house. It was a couple of summers ago when my Dad and I went hiking in the mountains. When we drove up to the base of the mountain I thought it was pretty big. It wasn't until we started walking up the mountain that I realized just how enormous the mountain really was. As we made our way up the mountain the view just kept getting better and better. After about 2 hours of walking we finally reached the top and walked out onto a ledge. As I looked out around me I saw one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. The mountain we were on was the tallest around and we could see everything around for miles. I even saw a little speck in the distance and realized it was my house. A time when I felt fear was when I crossed the Potomac river. As we were crossing the bridge to get across I looked down and saw how vast the river was. It was a considerable drop down and the river was almost a thousand feet wide. It didn't help that there was considerable traffic on the bridge. It took a couple of minutes to cross and I was terrified that the bridge would break at any second. I think the difference between the two reactions was that in one I felt that I was vulnerable and there was nothing I could do to save myself if things went wrong. Whereas in the other situation I felt safe and secure which led to me being able to really enjoy what was right in front of me. Both of these experiences I will never forget.
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable situation that I felt awe occurred when I standing at the top of a mountain and looking over a forest and some lakes that were in the distance. There was nothing that could hurt (except for wild animals, tripping on a plant, or falling off of the cliff on the mountain) while I was up there. I felt real fear when I was in a nature preserve for crocodiles (not alligators). My family and I went onto a small boat to get a closer look and I saw a crocodile try and jump out of the water aimed straight at me. Luckily there were bars on the side of the boat to prevent them from getting in. I also learned that day that crocodile's breath smells horrible.
ReplyDeleteOne time I felt awe would be when my family went on a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park, near Seattle, Washington. Its one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. There are pockets of meadows filled with multi-colored wildflowers, ringed with tall, rigid pine trees. Mt. Rainier rises out of the greenery, long and sloping, its steel gray stone and white snow harsh on the rest of the verdant landscape. Furry beaver-like marmots scurry behind rocks tinged with lichen and gorge themselves on deep violet lupine. The day we visited the sky was a cloudless blue. My brother and I had rushed ahead of our parents on our hike and came to a curve in the trail where a group of tourists chattering away excitedly in Chinese were gathered. An enormous black bear was lumbering through a small clearing. His fur shone a glossy black and his long, tan snout was buried in the grass. I was close enough that if I took a few steps forward, I would be able to reach out and pet him as easily as I would my dog back home. My brother, who was only 9 at the time, quickly backed away to join the tourists of various nationalities, his eyes wide. I pushed my way to the front of the group. I knew that though they have a bad reputation, black bears are harmless unless provoked. I felt awe because though the creature in front of me was big and powerful, he was also gentle and majestic. The fact that I was secure in the knowledge that the bear wouldn’t hurt me left me able to appreciate its sublimity.
ReplyDeleteEvery summer my family visits our lake house in Michigan. When I was little, my uncle used to tell me stories of fish called “tiger musky” that lurked in murky green depths of Big Bear Lake. They enjoyed nibbling on the toes of young swimmers who ventured out into the center of the lake. Tiger musky can grow to be six feet long and have long, muscular bodies rippled with dark grey stripes. For a long time, whenever I went swimming and saw even the faintest shadow in the water, I would swim as hard and fast as I could toward shore. I felt real fear because the fish were unknown and mysterious, as I had only heard of them in my uncle’s stories. The one thing I was certain of, however, was that if I ever encountered one it would be the end of my red, white, and blue polished toes, which I had painted so carefully for the 4th of July. To this day I have not witnessed the elusive fish, though some of the old fishermen on the lake have told me their accounts of witnessing tiger musky skeletons washed up on the shore.
One summer my family went to our house in Aspen Colorado. We ussually go everyother year and have tons of fun. We hike, fish, go to town, and just relax. This story is about one of our hikes. It was my dad, my brother Nate, and me. This was our first overnight hike and with our luck nothing could have gone right. as we started thing were prety easy and we could see other hikers. Later on after 30 minuets as we got further along the trail the less people we saw. This trip was in early june so all the snow was just now starting to melt. this made for rushing water under skinny fallen tree bridges. after two hours or so the rain started, then the lightning and thunder. Soon it was a full on storm. Thunder crashing after blue static streaks of arching lightning arcoss the sky. As the rain fell we took shelter under a huge tree and just laid down to let it pass. It was no dull rest howerver and I began to feel small and insignificant to these emensaly powerful forces of nature around me. Each time we saw a bolt of lightning a loud clap of thunder was sent down and bounceed around the vally sourouned by mountains magnifying the sound to make an amazing sound. What made this moment so awe inspiring was that all I could do was lay there mesmerized and in total awe of this storm and the power of the nature around me.
ReplyDeleteOne experience of fear i have had was my second year of camp. It was my first long term(or a month away) and I was nine years old. It was the first night of the term and i was thinking of all the things that i would get to do. Then I thgought of home and parents and got a little home sick. Then I remembered hoew I always had water by my bed at home and immediatly got thirsty. I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the water fountain. I have no idea how i got the courage to leave my cabin at who knows how late but i did it anyway. Howerever once outside all my cofidance seemed to melt away. It was pitch black exept for a few tree lights way off. I kept hearing noises and saw shadows moving. I began to remember stories that my counselors had told me the other year. Soon I was completly shaking and it felt like I had been walking for hours.I was completly terrified. Finnaly I filled up my water bottle and ran as fast as I could back to the cabin and quickly fell asleep without drinking a drop of water. What made this experience so terrifying and reminds me of fear is because as a little kid you always think of the worst case senario. Also with my imagination and mnd racing I kept seeing all the shadows and eyes looking at me. It just show how yuor view can completly change a situation.
A time when I was in fear, was when I was walking in Park City, Utah with my parents and my sister Nadine, and out of nowhere, I started throwing up on the side of the street. A time when I was in awe was when I looked out of the window of a plane and all I could see was water when I looked down. It was amazing, it is easy to say that mountains and oceans are enormous, but no one can truly comprehend how large something that continues past what you can see is until they witness it themselves. When I was in Park City, I was afraid because I did not know what was happening and my throat felt like it was burning. I was afraid because there was nothing to do to stop it and I would just have to hope that it would end soon. I did not know if something even worse would happen next, and I was actually scared. Though when I was in the plane and I saw the endless water, I knew that it was not going to hurt me. I knew that it had no malice, and simply just existed. Even though the vast ocean was so much bigger than I was, I did not worry that it may spontaneously attack me. I was in awe of the ocean and respected it. I think the difference was that I did not know what would happen next when I was throwing up, but I knew that the ocean would be the same and not attack me the next moment.
ReplyDeleteOne winter break we went to Whistler, Canada to go skiing. We were with another family who was a bit more experienced than my sisters and I were. But we found an entrance to the ski slopes and we decided it looked pretty easy so we went down but i soon realized this was not an easy run. After not skiing for almost a year it was becoming very hard to handle it seemed to be more of a black which i was not comfortable on the first day usually. I looked down the steep mountainside and i was struck with fear. I thought there was no way i could go down safely so instead i took off my skis and walked across the side to a catwalk which connected to the area near the road to get back to where we were staying. I told my mom i would wait for her there and so she took off. She was gone for a very long time and i knew she didn't have her phone on her so i waited a long time for her to come back. I was just thankful i didn't have to go all the way down the mountain. A time when i was in awe was when i was in New York City for the first time. Yes it was a bit crowded but everywhere i looked there were masses of people and pretty buildings so much taller than us. It made me feel very small but at the same time part of something big and important. I was especially in awe of all the beautiful buildings at nighttime which were all lit up in preparation for Christmas. I loved the feeling of being in that city even though at times it made me feel very tiny.
ReplyDeleteI felt fear when I visited Joplin Missouri over the summer. Earlier 2011 a tornado devastated the small town. I went to Joplin for a baseball tournament a few months later. I had heard about the damage on the news but I could never have imagined how bad it actually was. We drove through what used to be neighborhoods. All that was left of the houses were the cement foundations. I felt fear when I looked at the power that this tornado carried. This was a flourishing small town in the middle of America months before. When I arrived though it looked like a battlefield. I look from a hilltop and I could see that the devastation stretched for miles. I felt sick knowing that these people were living their normal lives until a tornado swooped in and took it from them in just minutes.
ReplyDeleteI felt awe about five years ago when I looked over the Grand Canyon. I was in awe at how vast the massive canyon was. It stretched from horizon to horizon. Standing on the edge of the cliff I realized that I was at the edge of something that has been forming for millions of years. Its great depth also astounded me. The cliff dropped for several hundred feet before reaching the ground. It was a truly awe inspiring moment.
A situation where I felt awe was when I visited the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. Yellow Hat Buddhist pilgrims who had travelled for years in order to finally arrive in Lhasa completely filled the streets and the temple. The euphoria that came with their arrival shone on their faces as they all surged into the temple. To me, I felt as if a larger force, something so much bigger than me, was directing these people to come to this one place for only once in their lifetime. It was awe inspiring to see how this one strong belief could motivate these people to spend so many years of their life traveling and praying to finally arrive in their destination.
ReplyDeleteA situation where I felt fear was last summer, when my dad, sister, and I were maybe an hour away from the summit of Longs Peak, the tallest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountain takes nine hours to summit, and then you have to go nine hours down. For the first six hours, a difficult hike finally takes you to the base of the Diamond, or the final stage before you summit. However, in order to ascend to the top, you have to climb and not hike since their are no trails and it is a steep ascent. When I was hiking, it was easy to have a feeling of awe of the entire park as I could see more and more as I hiked higher. But the second you start climbing, it became a whole new feeling. What if I slip? What if the rope comes out of the protection? Of course these things rarely ever happen to climbers (if they know what they are doing), but the only thing I was thinking about was 'what if?'. In the end, we made it safely up and back down, but that fear I had experienced makes me think about that ascent every time I look at Longs Peak.
A time when I was in awe was when I was at the highest point of the mountain Machu Picchu in Peru. I took us two hours to climb the montain and two hours to come back down. Once my mom, brother and I got to the very top, my mom took a picure of my brother and I lying down on the tip hanging out heads off the mountain. I was in awe beacuse I could see the top of all the other mountains around us. I don't really remember a time with I was filled with fear but I remember once when I was with a few of my friends, we went rapping and this guy stopped infront of where me and my friend were hiding and I peeded in my pants because I was freaking out! The situation I was in was the difference between my two reactions. Almost getting cought was scary because we had just figured out that rapping was not really a legal thing to do. Being on top of Machu Picchu was an awe-inspiring situation because I felt so small compared to what I was looking at. It took two hours to get to where we were and once being on top I could see everything!
ReplyDeleteA situation where I felt awe occurred when I watched the musical Damn Yankees at Stratford Playhouse. The exact moment when I felt this awe, I was sitting in the front row, and the main character ran up to the point of the stage that was right in front of me. He sang his note perfectly, and held it with perfect vibrato. When he reached the top of the stage a beam of bright light shined around him, and smoke appeared out of thin air around his lower body. A situation where I had fear occurred last summer. I was at play practice, and my grandparents came to pick me up. Usually my nanny picks me up, but my grandparents and my little brother sat in the car. My dad was in the hospital. Multiple complications with his diabetes caused him to pass out behind the wheel of his car. Luckily, he pulled over before he did. The doctors thought he had a heart attack. It was the scariest moment in my life to see my dad on a hospital bed. The difference of my reactions are that I was in awe because of the feeling I got when the lead sang his song. It was so beautiful that I got goosebumps. I was in fear of my dad being in the hospital, because I was scared and worried that I would lose him. They are totally different feelings and emotions. I was in awe because I was happy and excited, and I was in fear because I was sad and worried.
ReplyDeleteOne time when I felt awe was at the beauty of a sunset. This particular sunset was at Church Mountain at Camp Longhorn. It is a beautiful place in general with a cross in the direction of the setting sun and when the sky changes all different colors it is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I'm in awe every time I see this sunset which is twice a year during the summer. Its beauty always takes me by surprise and definitely inspires awe. In contrast, I feel fear when I am not in complete control of my body. I'm scared of that feeling when your vision blurs and you feel like you might faint. When you can't keep your balance and your head feels like it is spinning. This has happened to me only a few times, but when it does it scares me. I guess not knowing what to do or not knowing what your doing worries me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in seventh grade, we took a school trip to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is so unbelievably enormous. As you stand by the railing, looking over the edge, it seems to stretch on forever. As if a giant carved a giant trench into the Earth's surface. The first time I saw it, in seventh grade, I was in awe that their could be such a giant crevice in the Earth. The Grand Canyon is such an amazing awe-inspiring place. It is almost impossible to fathom how such a thing could be created.
ReplyDeleteA time that I have felt real fear was just last year. I was staying in Galveston with some friends from my old school, and we decided to go down to the beach to go swimming. My friends and I were swimming around in the water when suddenly, out of nowhere, I couldn't touch the bottom anymore. I tried desperately to swim back to my friends, but the waves were too strong. Every time I caught my breath, a new wave would steal it from me once again. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered my sister telling me that whenever you get stuck in the ocean, to swim with the current. Taking note of this, I started swimming at a diagonal, and slowly made my way back to my friends. When I got back to my friends, my legs were exhausted. My friends all said that the same thing had just happened to all of them as well. It was terrifying to realize how easily that my life could be taken from me at any moment. It's not that I was afraid of death, but I was afraid of how unexpected death was, and the fact that I could have drowned. I obviously didn't die that day, but it let me to become more aware with how I spend each day.
What made my reactions different between these two events, is that in the first, I was in no danger. I was observing the sublime from afar. In the second event, I felt that I was in danger. The second that I felt in danger, my emotions immediately switched from awe to fear.
An event when I experienced pure awe was when I spent three weeks in Bariloche, Argentina with my family. We stayed in this beautiful house right on the lake. Our view from every window of the house was the breath taking lake surrounded by mountains. I would look at it and be speechless. I would have to take a step back and just have a moment to myself. I was in complete awe of Gods wonderful creation. One time that I was being chased by a dog at ranch is when I was in complete fear. I touched one of its puppies and the dog lost it. I have never ran that fast in my life before. That is truly the moment I had complete fear. When I was admiring the view in Bariloche, I was just thinking how privileged that I can live in a world like this one, and experience things like this. When the dog was chasing me I was not in shock I was running for my life. If I would of stopped, the dog would of bitten me. When something is awe-inspiring it makes you think like how cool is this! When you are in fear, all you are thinking is, how can I make this moment go away and bring it back to normal. That is the difference with being in awe and being in fear.
ReplyDeleteIn seventh grade I went to Colorado with my grade. We went hiking to the top of sugarloaf mountain which took most of the early morning because it was so high. When we got to the top, my whole grade got in a tight circle and we looked over the edge together. It was such an amazing moment because of the way that it felt to be on something so powerful and great, but to be so small and insignificant at the same time. The view from the mountain was something that I will never forget and being up there as the sun rose was an awe-inspiring moment. I remember feeling complete fear when I was sixth grade and I was in Austin with my aunt and uncle while my parents were out of town. One night I had a horrible asthma attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. I remember not being able to breath and thinking that I was going to pass out. It was such a scary moment because there was nothing I could do to help myself. The difference between these two situations was the way I felt during those moments. When I was on top of sugarloaf mountain, I had no fear because the amazing view and experience that I was having totally took over me and I didn't even have time to feel nervous or scared because I knew it wasn't going to hurt me. When I was having my asthma attack, I had utter fear because I didn't know what was going to happen and I was scared that I was really sick.
ReplyDeleteOver winter break, my family and I went to Hawaii. One day, we drove to a black rock beach. We stood on huge formations of black, volcanic rock, overlooking the vast ocean. The waves were colossal, and crashed against the tall rocks when they collided. Not only the rocks, but the way the sun's rays reflected against the water in the distance was just amazing. Standing on the mounds of volcanic rock and looking over the endless ocean, I couldn't help but be awestruck. One time I was in fear was a few years ago, when I was about ten years old. It was the middle of the night, and I was sleeping, until I was woken by the loudest thunder I have ever heard. It sounded someone was almost bellowing, screaming at me, like I had done something wrong. I got out of bed and looked outside my window. It was so dark, but in a very creepy way. When I saw the setting, I felt like I was almost on another planet, all alone. It felt like I had done something wrong, and now the skies were, in my mind at the time, threatening me. I felt helpless. One of the similarities between awe and fear is that both make you feel inferior, smaller. The difference between the two is that awe may make you feel smaller, but it usually has no negative effect on you. There is usually a positive effect, whereas fear makes you helpless, and there are usually no positive effects of it.
ReplyDeleteI was completely struck with awe when I visited the pyramids at Giza. I've seen the pyramids a million times, whether in textbooks, movies, or cartoons. However, the real spectacle really had me dazed for quiet a long time. I felt great respect for the ancestors that were able to accomplish such a task, a task that could leave a modern human in awe millenia later. A natural event that would have me in fear would undoubtedly be a hurricane. I remember fleeing Houston for Austin a few years in the past for fear of a hurricane predicted to waltz over our beloved metropolis. After learning about the great destructive powers of a hurricane in science class, my fear was only amplified. I would guess that the reason that the pyramids are awesome and hurricanes terrifying is that hurricanes can destroy and pyramids cannot. The fear of an item lessens dramatically when you know for a fact that it cannot cause you harm nor sadness. Such is the case for my fear of hurricanes and my admiration for the pyramids.
ReplyDeleteOne situation in which I felt awe was when I heard that some marines had gone and secretly killed Osama Bin Laden. I felt this awe because he had planned the 911 attacks on the US and his soldiers and followers had been killing many people in the countries like Iraq, with similar acts of terrorism. I felt some fear as well because some new leader who might be younger and be more able to do acts of terrorism might take his spot and be worse than him. And for a while I was really afraid until the 911 10th anniversary had passed. I felt real fear once when I was sailing and a giant thunderstorm rolled in. It was windy to an extreme, and I could barely keep control over the boat, as I tried to sail into the harbor. With lightning louder than fireworks and it raining so hard I could barely see 30ft in front of me. One of my friends got electrocuted a little bit and really started to freak out. In this situation I was really afraid for my life and mostly scared out of my mind.
ReplyDeleteI think the real difference for me between the awe inspiring moment and the scary moment was that the moment I found scary really effected me more because it happened more directly to me, and the awe inspiring moment was more distant from me and it wasn’t really likely to affect me in any real way.
A time when I felt awe was when I went snorkeling in the Bahamas. The water was bright and clear. As I swam through the clear ocean I was accompanied by graceful sea turtles and schools of fish whose scales reflected off the bright light extending from the surface. I was amazed by the beauty and serenity of the crystal clear ocean. There weren’t any bottles scattered across the ocean floor. A moment I was in fear was on Christmas Eve. My family and I were out to dinner when I remembered that I never turned off or unplugged my curling iron that I used early that morning. My mom had numerously told me how it was extremely dangerous to not unplug or turn off my curling iron because of how flammable our house is. I was so fearful because I had no way to control the situation. If I came up to a house up in flames there would be nothing I could do. I could not just apologize and make everything better. The reason I felt awe when I was snorkeling in the Bahamas was because I was so amazed by the complexity and beauty of nature. I was amazed by the purity of the ocean because I am so used to seeing smoggy air and polluted waters. I was scared by the fact that I could of caused a fire in my house because it was something bigger than I could control.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have an awe experience on the mountains or on some vast landscape because I haven't been on one yet. However, my experience was with an animal. As strange as it may sound this experience had a big impact on me. There were two experiences in the same day I went through. I was at the zoo with my little sister a few years ago and she wanted to go see giraffes because she likes the print on their skin. So we walk up to the place where the giraffes are kept at and immediately my jaw just dropped. I've always read about how tall giraffe's are and how long their necks are but when I was standing right next to it, I felt like an ant. Actually I felt smaller, like a prokaryotic cell! To be honest, I actually felt a little intimidated because im used to being as tall or taller than everybody else. So the giraffe made me feel short( imagine that!!). In my other animal encounter I felt fear when we went to go see the Lions. I'd never seen an animal's hair color so delicately woven and intertwined with one another as that of a lion's mane. I stood up against the glass and the Lion approached the glass towards me. I flinched and backed up a little forgetting there was glass separating me from the agressive king of the jungle. He/She stood up on their hind legs, and I felt short again ( two times in one day was enough for me). What put me in fear was how strong the Lion looked, even though it was just lying down. I was for sure that the lion would pounce and break the glass at it's command, disregarding the zoo keepers' rules and regulations. I believe the difference between my awe and fear had to do with the types of creatures and their attributes. It's more common for one to be scared of an animal that is a carnivore who chases its prey down and eats it raw, rather than the placid giraffe who's a herbivore and eats leaves off the treetops. So to be able to distinguish the difference of my awe and fear, I had to look back at the actions that happened. When I saw the giraffe, I had a jaw-dropping moment (awe), but when I saw the lion come towards me in the same manner the giraffe did, I flinched and moved back a little (fear).
ReplyDeleteA moment in which i felt awe has to be when my family and I hiked the Andy's Mountains. The feeling of being that high up was crazy. One of the days we spent there we went paragliding off the mountain and I was just amazed but the view and how high up I was. I was actually like in the clouds. Bein around objects that big really shows you how small you are. The fact of being that high up might seem scary but your really just in awe. A time I've been in fear was when I was little and we went to disney world and we rode the Jurassic park ride and the dinosaurs scared me because of how big they were. Even though both objects were big, one was an amazing site and the dinosaurs were ugly and mean looking. I have no fear in the mountains because I just knew that i was safe. The ride scared me because I had a fear that something was going to get me!
ReplyDeleteLast summer, me and my family went to Spain to see where my brother was studying. We went to all the sights and one of them is the Sagrada Familia. It is this huge church that Gaudi started building over 100 years ago and people are still building it! I was in awe at how tall it is when I went inside. You look straight up and there is tons of pretty art on the ceiling. I can't imagine how hard it was to get that up there! It is really magnificent and the only way to truly appreciate it is to experience it yourself. One time I experienced fear was when we were driving back home from visting our grandparents in Waco and there were reports of tornadoes all around the area we were in. We were scared because it was really dark and you could hardly see anything. We pulled off the highway and tried to find a place to stay, but all the hotels were filled up, so we waited for what seemed like a long time until we decided it was ok to get back on the highway. It was around midnight by the time we finaly found a motel to stay in and I usually didn't stay up that late. It was a stressful night overall and I feared for my life a couple of times. The difference between my feeling of awe at the Sagrada Familia was completly different than how I felt night. I was definitly not in awe of the heavy rain, lightning, thunder, and strong wind, but I might have been if we were inside our house.
ReplyDeleteAwe is a truly amazing feeling. This past summer my camp added four ziplines going from one mountain to the other, getting higher and higher with each one. The final one, "Zip 4," is actually 200 feet above the camp and 700 feet long. You are suspended by one rope attached to a single steel wire and once you're ready to go you spring off the platform and come out from the trees. Wow. I spin myself around in the air while soaring across and it's truly awe-inspiring. You see the mountains of in the distance that were never visible before and you the the rest of the camp and how it's nestled in the beauty of nature. Here I was, little me out on a zipline, suspended before all of nature. Now fear is much different from awe. When I was little, I used to be afraid of being out on a boat. When my family was at my cousins' lake house, we took the boat out on the lake. I refused but was forced to go. I sat on the floor of the boat the whole time hoping we wouldn't sink. I didn't trust the boat. It was me and my family, on a boat, in the middle of a giant lake. I was scared the whole time and just hoping we would survive. I felt helpless, scared, vulnerable by this situation. Much different from the amazement and wonder I felt on the zip line. While both sensations can make you feel small, awe is peaceful and fear is most definitely not.
ReplyDeleteA moment when I felt fear was when I was scooba diving in the Barbados and a shark was within 10 feet of me and my sister. I was scared because I thought it was going to attack us. A moment that I felt awe was when Obama passed universal healthcare. I was in awe because it was so dumb its ridiculous and its going to bring down this country in my opinion if it doesn't get appealed.
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