How would you know what you would do, until you actually had to do it?

They can’t and don’t.

The rest is just blowhardism.

You can imagine all you like, but the reality may not match. A group I know were on an elevator that stopped between floors. Only one immediately lay flat on the floor. . . a well trained physician.

Prior experience and or training in high stress situations can help, but until you actually face a catastrophe, you are just guessing.

The more training you have the better your odds of survival…period. History is laced with stories of people who make fundamental fatal mistakes because they did what they thought made perfect sense and it only ensured their death. Granted there are also stories of people perishing who were experienced first responders. But overall…knowing your capabilities, surroundings and options is everything to upping your odds of surviving if and when.

So many people drown over making dumb choices where they could have survived had they done things differently. Rip currents claim many lives every year that had people known what to do would still be here today. The biggest thing people could teach themselves is how not to panic and remain calm.

Yes and that is why I find so many of these hypothetical questions asked here specious and unnecessary.

I was (and am) a peaceful, violence-hating guy, who was sure to not use violence, ever.
Until, twenty years ago, my brother was threatened and my rational thinking stopped and I punched the attacker a broken jaw I still feel ashamed of it.
I was (and am) a guy who thought he’d act in ‘dangerous’ situations.
Until, after the 2005 bombings in London, I saw a guy in the train leave his backpack on the seats when he went to the toilet I assumed he went to the loo and I was staying sitting as if I was paralyzed, and did nothing, waiting for the boom.
So, I guess (for me anyway) you can’t really tell what you (would) do until you are faced with the situation.

Preparing beforehand for such catastrophes so that when they do actually happen in your life you know going into it what must be done and can keep a cooler head.

I don’t think you can. Aside from situation training which just ups the odds you’ll be prepared and knowledgable how to react, you’re at the hands of chance that you will react in that way.

Why am I the first person to give this question a GQ, as this is truly a GQ.

It always comes down to the three basic human factors: Mind (logic), Heart (emotion), Gut (instinct). Every situation we encounter generates a reaction. These three factors can come into play whether we are aware of it or not.

I think I’d just do whatever it takes to get myself out of the situation. Self-preservation is one of nature’s most important laws, and I intend to abide by it as best I can!

We all just wing it based on what experiences we might have. It’s either that, or panic.

@woodcutter Like the “black” SEAL. (wink)

you winkin at me?

Personally, I can’t. I can only assume, based on as far as I know. But I’d really have to witness the experience to actually know. And a lot of experiences that come to mind when reading this question, well, honestly, I’d rather not know.

My only exception is a zombie outbreak.

again, with the zombies?

Well yeah. Always. But there was a whole paragraph up there before the zombies lol.

It was kind of a joke though, that sorta totally answered this, at least, in the context with which I was using zombies to encompass it.
People ask me, they go, Rapunzel, what would you do if Michael Myers was trying to kill you? I answer…well…get killed, I guess. :D

I just don’t think a zombie apocalypse would be a good time..at all. What to do, so…many…decisions.

Yeah, I was actually saying, in a zombie Apocalypse, I would get killed pretty fast, but I was making it look like I was saying that I would kick total ass.

Damn me and my honest self.

@Cruiser The more training you have the better your odds of survival…period. History is laced with stories of people who make fundamental fatal mistakes because they did what they thought made perfect sense and it only ensured their death. Isn’t that most of the problem? How do you train to deal with a fire on a cruise ship? After two years of sweat, you take a cruise and the unthinkable happens, a fire breaks out in the engine room and they can’t get it under control. Depending where you are you might logically say I won’t go up, because that is where the smoke will rise. I will go one deck down then make my way to the bow. Is it the right move, could it be fatal if the ship started to sink because something exploded in the engine? If you never take cruises or isn’t one of the crew, it is all new. With the pandemonium, and chaos of everyone, things can quickly get crazy, and away from organized if the staff is not airtight.

@rebbel I was (and am) a guy who thought he’d act in ‘dangerous’ situations. Until, after the 2005 bombings in London, I saw a guy in the train leave his backpack on the seats when he went to the toilet I assumed he went to the loo and I was staying sitting as if I was paralyzed, and did nothing, waiting for the boom. Exactly! I know a many people who would be armchair quarterbacking on how they would have handled that situation. They would have acted like they would have tackled him to the ground, or done him like the Shoe Bomber, etc, but a lot of time people freeze or dive for cover. What you think you might do, you might not, or do something you never thought before you could reason it.

@Symbeline It’s not the getting killed part…well ya, getting killed would suck, but it would be, I then would be one of them. Has there ever been a movie where someone made an antidote for this problem?aside from offing yourself? It would really give me hope.

There’s been theories and even applied methods, but they were never advanced, and so no result was shown. If anyone knows of a zombie movie where the curse/infection was treated, I’d love suggestions. That has to be interesting.

You can live like you’re preparing. Practice makes perfect. Sweat more in peace, bleed less in war, etc.

@woodcutter Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?! (lol)

@Symbeline I think if at some point there is an anti zombie antidote that really works it might put an end to zombie movies because we all will be wondering why the shit don’t they just use the serum already. it would be hard to make a plot work. Then again they could invent a different strain of zombie, impervious to the antidote and the plots keep coming

@MRSHINYSHOES Not much. but don’t do it in front of the kids for godzsake!

Zombies, for what they are, can never end. :D

With, or without an antidote.

Oh shit

Zombies in entertainment wouldn’t exist if you could solve it, besides getting away to some place where they ain’t at lol.

I still wanna see the movie that defies the zombie rule though. :)

I have to admit I haven’t seen many zombie flicks. I am legend was probably it. There are some hard set zombie facts recognized by enough for someone to call bullshit if they stray too far?

@Hypocrisy_Central That is where training would take over to deal with the pandemonium. Panic will sabotage even the best efforts and a trained person would know how to regain control of the situation, evaluate the options and skill sets of the people around and then formulate a reasonable solution to the problem at hand.

@woodcutter Yeah, just in front of the wiffy, huh? lol

Men shouldn’t wink unless using it to let others know there is a private joke being made public at a new guy’s expense. Or they have something stuck in their eye.

Hey- who’s wifey are you referring to anyway?

@woodcutter Who did ya had in mind?

I was wondering the same thing today. I don’t think you can know for sure what you would do and I find it a little annoying that you hear people say things all the time like, “I would have done this….”, or “I would never have done that!” We think we know what we would do, or we think we know what we should do ,but, especially in a stressful and unexpected situation, all that could fly out the window.

I discover how I feel about something when it happens. Until then, I just think I know how I would feel. Some people are surprised that they panic, others are surprised that they stayed calm and used their head, rising to the occasion. How I would react and what I would do might even be different depending on how I was feeling that particular day.

I guess we all write fictions about ourselves and I am not really being judgmental or anything. I am not saying it’s bad, it’s just human nature. Maybe we ask ourselves what we would do and then we try to answer ourselves because we want to be prepared if such and such a thing happens. If a person started choking next to me would I apply the Heimlich maneuver? If a rat bit me on the foot in the subway (as happened this week in Manhattan) would I run screaming and crying? Would I totally freak out? (I am guessing yes, and yes!!)

9/11…I don’t know what I would have done if I were there. It would hope it would be something that would make my parents proud and that I would have done the right things to help other people. It is in times of crisis when we are tested and get to see what we are really made of.

@MRSHINYSHOES Um…yours?

@woodcutter Um, er, er, yeah, I suppose you’re right…..otherwise I’d find myself sleeping on the couch, huh? Erg! :(