Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Deep Sea or Space?


For some reason or other, Lauren and I were up late discussing which situation we feared more: being alone in the deep sea or being alone in space. Were we talking submersion in a submarine or flying in a space shuttle? Or just our bodies? I wondered. But we decided that any one would be pretty frightening.

Lauren said she would rather be in the deep, deep sea. She's afraid of the blackness and nothingness that is space. She's afraid of the absolute silence. "At least there'd be animals around you in the water." I disagree. Here's what I told her:

I'm deathly afraid of aliens and UFOs, but even I'd rather be floating in space. Water is so powerful -- even one drop of water can start erosive effects on the earth. The pressure of water is so incredible, it changes all the gas pressures in your body. You even have to be careful not to come up out of water too quickly or you'll die from the bends. The deep ocean is nothingness and blackness and quiet. Yes, you may be surrounded by sea creatures, but they're the razor-toothed monster-looking kind with glowing light things hanging from their forheads!* And actually, now that I think about it, aliens come from the depths of the ocean. HELLO! "The Abyss." "Cocoon." Yeah, space wins hands down.

And now I'd like to pose the question to you, dear readers. Would you rather be stuck all alone in the deep, dark ocean or in the black nothingness of space?

*Check out another razor-toothed monster. Speaking of biolumnescence, did you know you could buy this for your child?


Thing I'm thankful for: mint chocolate chip ice cream cones.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My little brother would love that frightening coloring book, but as for me, I would rather brave space anyday. I am afraid of the ocean. When I'm at the beach it takes me a couple of minutes to talk myself into getting more than my ankles wet. Shh, don't tell.....

8:45 AM  
Blogger Lexia said...

Hands down Space:
1. Looking at sparkling stars and colorful nebulas is way more fun than deep sea bestiary.

2. I'd rather die from being hit by an asteroid than from being eaten by one of those glow-in-the-dark fish with teeth. You could hardly see the attack coming!

3. Being in one planet's dark ocean my whole life would feel a little limiting. In space, you're free to float around until you potentially discover another moon, planet, or galaxy (time permitting). I mean, you at least have the chance to discover other worlds -- or at least the hope of finding other worlds.

4. And if you do have the luxuries of a space shuttle, you get to eat astronaut food...and that's ALWAYS cool.

9:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What Sara neglected to point out is that any change of pressure in your little spacesuit and you're dead, too.

Maybe it has something to do with my fear of heights. I would rather be crushed by the millions of pounds of pressure deep in the ocean because I would feel more secure. (That is, until my "head will collapse...") Floating for eternity? (Or until the pressure changed or I ran out of oxygen?) Uh-uh. No. Thank. You.

But I think I'm even more afraid of the way you actually get into space. Being propelled, afraid you might blow up like Challenger? Probably one of my worst fears.

9:57 AM  
Blogger Nicole said...

Um, space is prettier, and less wet. And if you were to implode or die of the pressure--well, at least that goes fast. That sounds awful, but I really like space. I have taken astronomy classes and loved them. I loved being taken around in the Air and Space Museum by an soon-to--be-engineer who knew what he was talking about. And I, like Emily, am always afraid of the ocean (though I love hardly anything better than the rough, windy climate up at the North Sea).

11:18 AM  
Blogger kelly said...

There's something confining and heavy about being underwater, while I'm guessing there would be something light and freeing about being in space. Definitely space. The ocean is my biggest fear, followed by sharks and spiders.

1:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm going with space too. Studying the planets in elementary school was my favorite.

5:51 PM  
Blogger Jacki said...

What is really funny is that none of us know what being out in space feels like. But I do know what being out in the middle of the ocean feels like. Granted I was only out there by myself for about 15 minutes and I could still see the coast. Still though, it is closer then me being in space. I am sticking to the good ol' ocean. Plus, I would most likely die faster in the ocean and then I wouldn't be alone anymore...

I hate this question!

12:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eww. This is not super fun to think about, but hands down I would rather be stuck in space. I have a fear of drowing, and fear I would not do well in all the depths that I would be trapped in, never knowing when the time would when I might drown. AHHH!! It would be awful!

6:36 PM  

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