I hear that the latest Stephen King movie is out in the theaters -- The Mist. Now I've not had a chance to see it yet, more have I seen any of the reviews. But I am familiar with the story upon which it is based, and have dropped by the website for the film to see what they have to say about it. And, of course, I've seen the pervasive advertising campaign for The Mist by Stephen King on television.

Of course, the story does spend a lot of time dealing with how people are changed by threatening situations. Indeed, you can learn a lot about a person by seeing how they react when subjected to the stress of a crisis, one where their life or safety might be on the line. I learned that when I was 18, and faced a really difficult situation with a couple of my friends, one in which we could have been seriously hurt or killed.

It was a time of transition. I was two weeks from heading off to college. We’d just held a going-away party for a friend whose family was moving. My two buddies, Ken and Josh, were about to start senior year of high school. And so as we were heading home about ten at night, we found ourselves on a dark, rural road. A car started tailgating us, and so I tapped the brake pedal to signal them to back off. It pulled closer, actually tapping my bumper. And then it swung around to pass us, barely allowing us room to stay on the road. The other vehicle zipped ahead of us, got about 100 yards in front – and stopped. All four doors opened – and I flipped around and tore off in the other direction. About a mile down the road, I cut the lights and turned into a farm road surrounded by corn. And waited…

What was interesting was how we all responded. Josh, the big guy among us, who was usually willing to take on all comers, wanted to take off into the corn field. Ken, who was usually the voice of reason, produced a hitherto unknown hunting knife from his cowboy boot, ready to fight. Me? I grabbed the box cutter I used at work from my glove compartment, ready to use a weapon on a human being for the first time in my life.

And so we waited. We saw that car pass at least twice, but they didnÂ’t spot us. After thirty minutes, we drove home. But I learned that my tough friend was not so tough, while my rational friend had a tough side I never knew existed. And me? I learned that I learned that IÂ’m ready to fight if the need arises, but that I fear what I will do if it does.

Posted by: Greg at 06:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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