FEAR = OF SNAKES & SNAKE BITES = PRECAUTIONS = FIRST AID = SYMPTOMS = ANTI VENOM TREATMENTS

FEAR OF SNAKES

& SNAKE BITES

In the previous two Posts, we saw various aspects of Fear, Fearlessness and Courage.

There are many justified and unjustified fears in us. We must eliminate our unjustified fears totally and we must channel our justified fears into positive, curative and preventive actions. We will deal with these aspects in this and future Blog Posts.

One of the commonest, justified fears is fear of snakes.  Are snakes, specifically venomous snakes, our friends or foes? Neither. They live their life  in their own predictable manner and are not particularly inimical to human beings. Why are we then so much afraid of snakes?

·        Many snakes are highly venomous and can easily kill us with their venom.

·        We walk with feet on the ground and eyes in the face. But snakes crawl on the ground. This gives them a huge advantage in biting us, even unseen by us, injecting their venom into us in split seconds and getting away. Our eyes at the top of our face are really not effective in assisting our feet in avoiding venomous snakes.

·        Venomous snakes can be very FAST.

·        Snake Venom is deadly and fast in circulating in our system. It does not give sufficient time for ANTI VENOM treatment.

·        Over 1 lakh people die of snake bites every year. People who do not die but are otherwise affected badly by the venom for life are many.

·        Anti venom treatment is not available at all places. The nearest place where treatment is available may be hours away – and this period is crucial in many cases.

·        Huge information gap exists on where treatment is available at your particular place! Even as you read this – please ponder on two aspects. Do you know where anti venom treatment is available nearest to you? Please do get to know!

·        Many Medics are not fully conversant with the correct procedure of anti-venom treatment for different types of venom.

·        People in snake infested places are mostly unaware of the precautionary, preventive and curative measures. Our Education tells us of distant stars but not of the nearest snakes! Even when it tells us of snakes, it tells us of how snakes are made, how they crawl, how they eat etc – but not how we must guard against venomous snake bites!!

·        Venomous snakes are very common near even dense human habitations. There are no wild animals in New York, New Delhi or London – but there are venomous snakes in all these cities. If we have to co-habit with venomous snakes, as we are doing, but, which I consider unwise, the next best thing is – to know all the preventive and curative measures and keep them handy and ready.

In each country, different types of venomous snakes are seen. In India, 4 MAIN types of venomous snakes are common.

BIG FOUR – INDIAN SNAKES

• Indian Cobra (Naja naja), the most famous of Indian snakes.
• Common Krait,Bungarus caeruleus
• Russel’s viper, Daboia russelii.
• Saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus.

The King Cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah)  is not considered  a member of the Big Four and it lives mostly in dense jungles without human contact. But this can inject larger quantities of a potent venom, and is deadlier than the Big Four.

The Big four eat  mice and other rodents whereas King Cobra eats other snakes also. The Big Four, are very common near human habitations, where rodent population is more. These snakes are  mainly nocturnal, moving at night. Most people get bitten by snakes at night when they step on them.

PREVENTION &

PRECAUTIONS

1.  PREVENTION & PRECAUTION are infinitely better than first aid and treatment.

2.  KNOW THE SNAKES : Get to know how poisonous snakes of your place look like and behave. If you don’t know – safely assume each snake you see as poisonous.

3.  SNAKE FOOD : Snakes are attracted to rodents, mice, frogs etc, which is their food. Keep such snake food off from your home and nearby places – to keep the snakes off. Use effective Rat poison to kill the snake food – after ensuring to keep children and human food away from such poison.

4.  YOUR HOME : Ensure that there are no hiding places for snakes or for snake food in your home / compound. Do not store sticks, bricks, stones or unfrequented sheds in  a way that make it convenient for snakes to hide and for rodents and mice to reside.

5.  HOLES : Low lying holes in compound / other walls provide entry points to snakes into the house. Guard them with protective coverings or, close them, if they are of no use.

6.  WEAPONS TO KILL : Keep long, strong sticks / rods / other useful weapon handy – to deal with a snake, if one enters your home or compound.

7.  CHILDREN : Sensitize Children about snakes and ensure they do not go near / meddle with snakes. Tell them how to back off from snakes safely.

8.  DARKNESS COMPANION : Carry a powerful Torch / Light – when you move in darkness. If electricity failures occur in your place – keep a torch with you always.

9. MOVING IN JUNGLES / HILLS : People who frequent Jungles, other wilderness spots, and those who camp, hike, picnic, or live in snake-inhabited areas, must be very careful and follow all these precautions invariably.

10.              KEEP EYES ON GROUND: Remember, snakes move on ground. Keep eyes there and walk with caution - in snake infested areas.

11.              WHEN YOU SPOT A SNAKE : If you spot a snake - leave it alone. Move away from it. It will return back to its own environment quickly. It is as much afraid as you are. Do not try to approach it, catch it, or kill it - if you do not know how to do it and if your reflexes are slow. Many people get bitten while killing or catching venomous snakes.

12.              WHAT TO WEAR : Wear rough protective Gear. Wear long, thick pants, like Denim Zeans, and boots with thick uppers, taller than the ankle. These do slow down or even avoid venomous bites.

13.             CLEANING OPERATIONS : If you are clearing an area having bushes, grass etc in areas having snakes, wear boots and heavy gloves. Also work along with at least one more person.

14.              PLACES TO AVOID : Avoid tall brush and deep, dark crevices. Snakes hide in such places. Some venomous snakes can also be on trees for food, though these are not their natural habitat. Keep hands and feet out of areas you can't see. Don't pick up rocks or firewood unless you are out of a snake's striking distance. (A snake can strike half its length.)

15.              FLOODS : During floods, storms and heavy rains, water is flowing heavily every where. Poisonous snakes are forced to leave their habitat at such times and come out and may be flowing in such waters. Be careful to walk in such flood waters and keep away if you see  such snakes.

16.              MAKE NOISE : Make tuck, tuck, tuck Noise with your stick and create heavy vibrations with it and with your boots on the ground. This scares away snakes. Snakes especially perceive vibrations and move away from threatening vibrations. Use your stick to move objects slowly and see what is behind such objects, before handling them.

17.              SNAKES DON’T MAKE NOISE : Do not expect snakes to make noises for you to hear and get away from them. It is all your problem – to get away from them.

18.              WHEN DO THEY BITE: Snakes do not usually bite unless cornered, handled or stepped on. They usually go away from you. But, some snakes, some times, can be in bad moods or totally unafraid and can attack.

19.              WHEN TO KILL : If a snake enters your house and is posing instant threat to you or family members, or if, on a road or elsewhere, a snake shows distinct signs of attacking you, the question is who should survive – you or the snake!. If there is a professional snake catcher around, call him. If not, who should survive is the question. You should!! Courage and caution must be your first weapons. Remain totally unafraid and be very, very agile. Venomous snakes are fast – but you can be faster and more tactical.

20.              HOW TO KILL : Keep your eyes on the snake and its movements. Use a long-handled thick stick (wood or iron) to strike it on the back of the snake's head. Be fast, be accurate and hit many times in quick succession – till  it is totally dead. Always keep your distance from it till it is dead. Hit the head, or as near the head as possible on the ground. No use hitting the tail and making the snake to fight back. Courage, Coolness and Quickness are the watchwords. If there are two of you, both can strike from opposite angles. No snake, however fast it is, can handle two human beings.

21.              DEAL WITH THE DEAD : Once a snake is killed – do not touch it – it can reflexively bite even after death up to an hour. Dispose off by burning it. Likewise, after you kill rodents, mice etc, dispose them of by burning. Do not leave dead carcasses attracting other insects, animals etc.

22.              ANTI VENOM TREATMENT CENTRES : Keep the telephone number of the  nearest anti-venom treatment center and ambulance on your cell phone always. If there is none at present – insist from your local authorities to create such call numbers for both First aid and  anti-venom treatment centres and make it known to all the people.

23.              KEEP EYES AT DISTANCE : Some cobras are known to spit venom into the eyes of Potential aggressors like humans. Hence, keep your eyes and face at sufficient distance from their line of spitting.

FIRST AID

IF YOU / SOME ONE IS BITTEN

1.  PHONE UP FIRST: Call up the telephone number of the nearest Anti venom centre /squad at your place, within seconds of a venomous snake bite. Do not delay.

2.  KEEP LOWER THAN HEART LEVEL : Do not elevate the place (organ) where you are bitten. Keep the bite below the level of the heart.

3.  WASH, IMMOBOLIZE & GET HELP: Wash the area with warm water and soap. IMMOBILIZE the area. Get Medical help Fast.

4.  LOOSEN EXTREMITIES OF BITTEN ORGAN: Remove constricting clothing and jewelry (Watches, bracelets, rings, gloves, or shoes) that may restrict circulation in the affected organ’s extremity. The area may swell and constricting items will cause tissue death.

5.  HOW TO WRAP : Wrap with an elastic pressure bandage. Start from the point closest to the heart and wrap towards the fingers or toes. keep the bite lower than the heart. Follow the first aid measures till the anti venom squad arrives or till the patient is transported there.

6.  CALM & MOTIONLESS: Ensure that the bitten person remains cool, calm and without unnecessary movements. Don’t panic at all. Blood flow should not be increased by such movements. The bitten part especially should not be moved much. Vigorous shaking of that organ can cause blood flow to increase quickly and cause serious complications. A bite victim preferably should not walk but lie still. If he has to move, he must move slowly.

7.  NO CUTTING & SUCKING! Cutting into the wound can create infections.

8.  NO ELECTRIC SHOCKS : These are not proved effective.

9.  WHO SHOULD KILL: If the snake has to be killed, preferably some one other than bite victim may kill it – as the effort to kill the snake itself will increase blood flow from the bite wound causing serious complications.

10.              DEAD SNAKE:       Bring the dead snake to the hospital for identification, if possible. But, be careful, dead snakes can reflexively bite for up to an hour.

11.                       USE CELL PHONE / CAMERA: Take a picture of the snake with your cell phone / camera. It helps doctors to identify it and give appropriate treatment. Some times, it could be a non poisonous snake – in which case, the patient’s fear is immediately removed.

12.              Else try to remember its essential features of the snake – and tell doctors. They can often identify the snake just from the wound – but not always.

13.          ENSURE BREATHING : If the victim is not breathing, try to restore breathing.

14.          BANDAGE – HOW: A bandage, wrapped two to four inches above the bite, helps to slow venom. A good rule of thumb is to make the band loose enough that a finger can slip under it.

15.         SUCTION DEVICES HELP: A suction device may be placed over the bite to help draw venom out of the wound without making cuts. Suction instruments often are included in commercial snakebite kits. A rubber bulb, breast pump or heated jar are all preferable to mouth suction. Mouth suction has obvious risks for the person doing the sucking, if he has open mouth sores. If you still do it, do not swallow the venom-spit it out.

16.         SNAKE BITE KITS : Read their instructions, and use the kits correctly as per instructions given. Else, they may do harm. If the area under the bandage / tourniquet swells, move the tourniquet two to four inches above where you first placed it.

17.         NO COLD OR ICE COMPRESSES:  These do not help much  but may damage the tissue.

18.              NO FOOD / ALCOHOL: Do not give the victim food or alcoholic beverages. The victim may have small sips of water if he or she is conscious and is able to drink without choking or vomiting.

SYMPTOMS

OF POISONOUS SNAKE BITES

There are varied symptoms of snakebites. Anyone / multiple symptoms can occur according to the type of snakebite.

COBRA /KRAIT BITE : Constitutional symptoms are more prominent than local pain and swelling. (i) General intoxication (ii) a sense of creeping paralysis beginning in the legs and ascending to the head by way of trunk (iii) Paralysis of the muscles of the eyelids (iv) staggering gait (v) non-coordination of speech (vi) paralysis of the limbs (vii) drooping of the head and (viii) paralysis of all voluntary muscles (ix) Nausea and vomiting (x) increasing difficulty in breathing till it finally stops. (xi) In the case of Krait bite, in addition, there are convulsions and violent abdominal pains.

RUSSEL’S / SAW SCALED VIPER : Local symptoms are more and severe – like (i) intense and persistent pain (ii) swelling at the site of the bite (iii) shock (iv) consumption coagulopathy, (v) spontaneous hemorrhages’ in the organs and tissues (vi) acute necrosis leading to death (vii) constant oozing of blood from the bite punctures (viii) Hemorrhages, both external and internal (ix)  pain, tenderness and vomiting (x) Death due to heart failure, but there may not be paralysis.

The venoms acts very rapidly. Hence, unless the absorption of  venom into the circulation is retarded by ligation, the anti-snake-venom-serum does not get a fair chance to neutralize the venom and save the victim.

Absence of distinct fang punctures and failure of local pain, swelling, numbness or weakness to appear within 20 minutes are strong evidence against snake venom poisoning.

TREATMENT

·      Even if the snake bite is non-poisonous, medical help should be sought and a tetanus shot may be required. Even a non poisonous bite can cause ill health, rashes etc. So, surely – see the Doctor.

·        Leave it to the Expert Medico. Some News reveal that in some countries, even in Medical colleges / centres, anti snake venom treatment is not either included in syllabus or not dealt with, with due importance. This should change.

·        There are different methods of treatment – as we see from the Internet – depending on the amount of venom in blood stream, time elapsed, place of bite and so on. Anti venom serum treatment is of course the most widely used one.

• Antivenin is derived from antibodies created in a horse's blood serum when the animal is injected with snake venom. Some persons may develop an adverse reaction  to it.
• Antivenins have been in use for decades and are the  effective treatment for snake bites. There are sometimes reactions to them, but then you're treating a life-threatening situation. It's clearly a case of weighing the risks versus the benefits.
• Some times, even a venomous snake bite – may not have released any venom at all – or very low levels of venom. Either the snake has released the venom on the pants or boots or has released it prematurely.
• Some experts emphasize that though antivenin can effectively save life, there is no guarantee that it can reverse damage already done. Some patients may later require skin grafts or other treatment. This is one compelling reason to seek medical treatment as soon as possible after a snake bite – and also seek further treatment later for damages already done by the poison.
• There are effective Native herbal treatments known to many people. Snake charmers and catchers (like snake Murugan of Coimbatore, India) are known to be bitten several times in their life by poisonous snakes but treat themselves with herbal roots very safely and effectively. Modern science must research on such easier, safer herbal treatments. In this aspect, it seems to be acting almost UNSCIENTIFICALLY BLIND.
• If such quick, effective herbal roots / medicines are easily available – we may never be afraid of snakes, venomous or non-venomous. We may in fact love them all.
• As always – this Blog will be highly thankful for all readers’ suggestions, improvements and CORRECTIONS, if any. If you feel, this post is informative, please do tell others.

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FEAR = STANDARD RESPONSES = FIGHT, FLIGHT,FREEZE, FLOCK AND EXTREME REACTIONS

FEAR

STANDARD RESPONSES TO FEAR

Of

AVERAGE PERSONS

We are all afraid some times in life. It may be for right reasons or for wrong ones. It happens to all.

We are all average persons – until we learn above average responses– in the subsequent posts…  and actively implement them.

How does an AVERAGE PERSON respond when he or she is afraid?

We are not discussing how to develop courage or fearlessness - in this blog post. We are talking of actual, existing fear contexts and how average persons respond to them. We will talk of developing courage and fearlessness and extra-ordinary responses to fear contexts in a next post.

The standard responses of Average persons to a fear context generally includes the following : (a) Fight (b) Flight (c) Freeze (d) Flock (e) Extreme Reactions. These are all examined below :

F I G H T

There can be 3 circumstances in which FEAR makes us fight it out – as we can see below.

NO WAY OUT : Some times a fear context does not allow us any option  except FIGHTING IT OUT. Let us see a few examples.

Example (i) You and your young daughter is walking on a street. A big bully comes  and starts bullying both of you. You are both afraid. You begin to understand that if you keep quiet and do not resist and protest, both of you will be robbed. Your daughter may be molested and raped. Both of you will have to face social shame all your life.

You are two but weaker than the bully. The Bully is one but stronger. He is not allowing you to go any way. In a situation of this type, quite often, all  escape routes are closed. All other methods are sealed. You HAVE TO FIGHT. That is the only way left for you. So you will. Your daughter also will. Your minds will be tuned to fight – by the very methods that the bully uses against you. Many have fought bullies, robbers, other arrogant and lawless persons etc in such circumstances. The result of the fight depends on several factors.

But, people have fought out their way when driven to the wall. Some one asked - which dog will win in the dog-fight. The big dog or the small dog. The reply was, the half hearted dog will lose and the whole hearted dog will win. Do not just look at the dogs in the fight, but look at the FIGHT in the dogs. Many such factors matter. Babur, Alexander and many such warriors, followed by small but strong armies, overpowered huge armies led by weak generals.

The moral is – when driven to the wall – FIGHT. This is one time, when anger, intelligence and daring work wonders for you. Become angry. Become intelligent. Become daring. Then, Fight!! Anger, Intelligence and daring give you more strength and stamina than you can ever imagine that you possess!!

SKILLS & CONFIDENCE : Some times, we may ready ourselves to FIGHT, if we feel, we are reasonably well equipped with the necessary skills to fight out the fear context. This is also a very good way of dealing with a fear context. If you are a martial arts practitioner, having fought and won over several opponents in prize fights – your present opponent, the bully on the street, the robbers who entered you house or some one like that – evokes very little fear in you. You know how to tackle him. It is one more occasion to display your skills and test them. 

You may even start playing with the opponent, just like a lion or tiger plays with small prey before killing and eating it. Typically, in such cases, the opponent is less prepared and less skilled. Even if he is equally skilled – you still face him with your skills and superior self confidence.

Here, the morale booster is your well tested skills in fighting out a fear context. Some skilled individuals are not only not afraid of the most venomous snakes but they actually go after them, catch them, play with them and then leave them free. It is not that the danger of the venom is less for them. They are highly skilled and experienced and cautious enough – which the others are not.

The moral here is – for most of the your high frequency fear contexts – you must develop the necessary skills to face them. The society must encourage development of such skills.

NATURAL TENDENCY : Some people, either at all times, or at certain times, have a Natural tendency, to fight out a fear context and not run away from it or adopt any other method of dealing with it.

Examples (i) : A rowdy accosts a mother and tries to take away her child forcibly from her. The mother fights out, even if she knows well that it is an unequal fight. Losing the child is simply unacceptable, even if in the process of fighting for the child, the mother can get badly injured or die. Every rowdy knows that it is not easy to take away a child from the mother. Here, it is the natural tendency of any good mother to fight for her child. But, the same may not be true with any body else other than the mother. A servant or a relative will not show that much resistance to the Rowdy. They have no such natural tendency.

Example (ii): In many world cultures, including the Indian culture, it used to be ingrained into the males of the society that safeguarding one’s wife,  mother and daughter is more important than one’s own life itself. If others try to harm the womenfolk of a household, the males fight out till the end. The story of  Ramayana is precisely that. In Mahabharat times, the same principle got diluted. Yudhistir is till to day not excused for his fault of betting and losing Draupadhi to the Kauravas. Even in recent times, we find, many Indian families attaching great importance to guarding their females from others as though their own honour depended on it and any thing adverse happening to the females is taken as worse than death. Such Healthy customs must be ingrained in people and must be taught in all forums like schools, colleges, public debates etc. This gives people extraordinary courage to fight such fear contexts. It becomes a natural tendency and  scares away anti social elements from their nefarious acts.

Example (iii) : Fighting for the freedom and safety of the nation from external predators / conquerors is a similar context. Any Nation which does not explicitly teach its people including its children, youth, middle aged men and the elderly that the honour of the Nation must be upheld at all costs – specially from external predators pays very dearly in case of external aggression and in cases of internal insurgencies.

All these examples show how people develop a NATURAL TENDENCY to fight out specific FEAR CONTEXTs.

In Summary – we can say that developing adequate skills and self confidence  against  normal, foreseeable fear contexts is a preferable activity for any society to reduce the impact of fear in its people. Also, developing a natural tendency to fight for the nation, for the honor of  females and elders and so on is a must for a nation. Patriotism and morality – must be taught strongly in schools and other educational institutions – else, a society or country will pay dearly for its lapse in terms of increasing crime rate and increasing restlessness and insecurity in the society. Some times, when left with no other choice – fighting out the fear context may be the only choice and many people do get sufficiently angry, intelligent and bold to fight out much against their normal behaviour.

FLIGHT

Flight from the scene of the Fear context is another useful choice. When do we run away or consider it the best option – in a fear context?

PRUDENCE : Some times prudence  is better than valour. You can fight with one bully. Or two. But, can you fight with a hundred? No way. So, flight is the only choice at such times.

A Police lathi charge is going on in one street. It is clearly likely to spread. You are just a bystander who came there for buying some medicines for your sick mother. Will you like to stand and see what happens next?? No. Run from the scene.

You are walking on a hilly terrain. At a distance, you locate a cheetah or  some wild animal. You have your house nearby or some open house nearby. What do you do? Run for cover. Run for safety. Save your skin.

You have an urgent interview or a critical business engagement. A street bully wants to threaten you. You are skilled and bold to face him. But, it takes precious time. You know you can also escape from easily. So…, Escape!! Life needs such prudence. Don’t give in to your EGO at such times. It wants you to fight. Your valour is not always intelligent. Flight is not always cowardice.

NATURE’S FURY : You can’t face a tsunami, a typhoon, a sand storm, an earth quake, a volcanic eruption or similar incidents of Nature’s fury. There is no bravery involved in staying put to face them. Stay out of their way. There are many occasions in this world when you may have to run for safety. Keep your body and mind fit enough to run reasonably to safety. This is a necessity. Some times, the flight may not be physical, but psychological or metaphorical.

In a meeting, your boss is unduly aggressive. You have a point within you which is diametrically opposite to that of your Boss. You are under a great temptation to make your point. But, if your boss hears it, he will not only not take it, but is sure to fire you or even end your career!! So what do you do? Keep away from your Boss’s line of fire.

During Maha Bharat War, the great Arjuna had requested Lord Krishna to take him away from the line of fire of Bheeshma on one occasion and of karna on another. Arjuna was not a coward and not an unskilled warrior. He was not also afraid of laying down his life, if needed. But, some times, it is better to be away from the scene of fighting and wait for a better occasion. You will have a better chance of winning subsequently. Flight is not a bad technique on such occasions.

Evidently, it is a bad and ignominious technique to use when your whole honour, your families’ honour or your country’s honour is at stake from a predator; when it is “now or never” , and when “flight” destroys all that you lived for in life. Adopt Prudence (of flight) when justified and valour when more appropriate!! When FIGHT is the need, FLIGHT is bad. When FLIGHT is the need, FIGHT  is bad.

FREEZE

Many people become totally immobile in fear and are unable to decide on what to do in the fear context, which itself is one sort of response to such a context. It is of course a bad response most of the time.

We are talking here of what average persons do when faced with a fear context. FREEZE is one response. A huge, venemous cobra is standing in your way and hissing whichever way you move. Many people may become frozen in fear. But, many animals, venomous snakes, insects etc – tend to attack only moving objects, moving persons, scared and scaring persons but not static persons.

We can see in the National Geographic and animal planet channels, how some people stand immobile while  honey bees, cobras or such harmful beings are placed all around them for considerable time. Their task is to remain stable, immobile and un-afraid for the specified time. Then they come out of that. We do find remaining FROZEN does ward off dangers  in such fear contexts. Freeze, as a tactical technique may work wonders at such times. But, otherwise, FREEZE  is more harmful than any other technique.

F L O C K

Flock  means – coming together of similarly threatened people and then deciding on an appropriate type of response  to the fear context or threat scenario. It is possible to use when the fear context is of a prolonged nature and is likely to threaten a whole society over a period of time. It is also a good technique to use – when only one person is under threat at this moment – but  more people may come under threat in future, if the threat scenario is not tackled well, in a combined manner.

There is a beautiful PANCHA THANTRA story of how four bullocks which were together as friends and eating grass freely on the fringes of a jungle. A lion came from the jungle and attacked one of the bullocks. But, to its surprise, all the four bullocks started attacking the Lion. The lion was badly injured and ran away into the jungle. After some time, the four bullocks quarreled among themselves bitterly. Each started grazing in a different direction. The lion saw this and attacked a bullock.  The attacked bullock tried to defend but was helpless to face the lion singly. The other bullocks remained unmoved at the death of their former friend. In course of time, the lion attacked another bullock, yet another bullock and finally the last bullock, and killed and ate them all. Come together, come together, come together – emphasizes the PANCHA TANTRA in many of its beautiful stories.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, the bad men are coming together for bad purposes very easily – while good men are not coming together even to ensure their own safety. It is important that GOOD MEN  must realize their foolishness of not coming together with others – sink their useless EGOS, and form strong associations – not only to defend themselves, but also, to defend the nation, to help each other economically, socially and so on. FLOCKING is by far the best technique of all. What one cannot do -  many together can do. UNITY is STRENGTH. United we succeed, Divided we fail. Good men specifically are exhorted to come together!! The world needs their combined services. They themselves need their combined services.

EXTREME REACTIONS

Many people resort to extreme steps as reaction to a fear contexts – either knowingly or involuntarily. A person is in huge debt and does not know how to repay. He commits suicide in fear of being shamed in the society. A person is ashamed that Police arrested him and treated him badly or he was given a sentence of Jail by judiciary. He commits suicide in shame. A brilliant student expecting top grades doesn’t get such grades. He commits suicide in sorrow and fear of shame. Some times, a non-poisonous snake may bite a person. But, he thinks it is poisonous. He is shocked and dies in shock.

When a person loses all hope – Fear of shame, fear of death, fear of big injuries, fear of losing family and such catastrophes make him resort to such extreme reactions either voluntarily or involuntarily. Some times, the reaction of death, paralysis, seizures etc is instant.

SUMMARY

The five types of reactions discussed above are normal ways in which normal individuals  respond to fear contexts. <F+ F + F + F + E> are all the normal ways of average persons.

Are Average persons therefore of five different types? No. The same person may adopt different methods at different times, in different fear contexts. The same person can also be trained to adopt better methods.

We have also discussed how an individual, and a nation must mould themselves for better handling fear contexts.

You, the reader, must go through the methods, judge where you are in the scheme of various fear contexts and take steps to adopt better techniques in future.

We will also examine in future blog Posts, some specific fear contexts and suggest what you can and need to do – to protect your self and handle them well. After that –we will also examine how to ELIMINATE FEAR from our life altogether.

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