Friday, July 10, 2009

Shark vs Lion

HATARI! Morbidity Ensues!

When I say, Shark vs Lion, I do NOT mean which one would win in a fight. Let me start from the beginning . . . It's really all my brother-in-law Chris' fault. I am a person who likes to do things like bungee jump and sky dive and I have mentioned to Chris before that I think it would be fun go down in a shark cage and to do the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain sometime, despite (or maybe because of?) how stupid and dangerous they are. This morning I opened up my Gmail and a chat box from Chris popped up (we maybe sometimes Gmail chat when we both should be working) and what was there was an Internet link and the following phrase: 'just in case you get any crazy ideas.' Crazy ideas indeed. Me? The link was to a story and video about a man who was just gored by a bull who strayed from the other bulls in the Pamplona run. I told him that I still wanted to do it, and then we reflected on what a horrible word gored is. Just the word sends shivers down my spine, much like with the word garroted. Chris then said that it was definitely on his list of ways he would NOT want to die, and then proceeded to list off several others from said list- burnt alive, eaten alive, buried alive . . . as we mused over unpleasant and dramatic possible deaths, I posed this query:

Would it be more terrifying to be killed by a shark or a lion?

Shark's have those cold, dead eyes like they are just mindless machines, plus, water is not our natural habitat, so you wouldn't be able to see all that was happening or where the beasty was. Lions have these knowing eyes like they are just playing cat and mouse with you and are going to thoroughly enjoy consuming you, plus you can see everything that is happening. Dead eyes or knowing eyes. For me, with human horror movie villains, its the Hannibal Lecter's who are so intelligent and calculating and aware that are scarier than the Jason's who are faceless, albeit murderous, drones.

Chris' opinion was this: I think I'd rather get taken down by a shark... a really big shark that could just snap me in two and get it over with. I think a lion would gnaw on me for a while before I died which wouldn't be a cool way to go.

True enough. I then joked that maybe I would start a poll on my blog to see what people thought, and he agreed that I should because, 'everyone has thought about it at least once.' Now I don't know how accurate that statement is, but apparently Chris and I both have, so I decided, why not?

It really comes down to Jaws vs The Ghost and the Darkness. Certainly there is no way to really know, as I feel that it is a safe assumption that none of us will ever find ourselves in either situation (well, I might, if I don't get these 'crazy ideas' out of my head), but its still an interesting thought.

The Poll has ended- shark is scarier, 66% to 33%

3 comments:

Elisabeth (and Tyler) said...

Shark. Definitely.. I agree with Chris. I feel like the lion would drag me around until the rest of his friend and family joined him and giant chunks of me were slowly devoured. I feel itchy.

PS.. Can't wait for your post on Lake Powell :)

SisterPresidentMann said...

We're sorry to quibble with you, but in South Africa, Sharks vs Lions means the KwaZuluNatal rugby team playing the UK rugby team. Morgan just went to see them a few weeks ago. In that case, the Sharks won.

dave + kirst said...

I already have a terrible fear of sharks and being in the ocean, thinking of a shark close by, terrifies me! The lion kind of reminds me of my cat... so I think I'd go with the cat. I mean really I don't want to think about either. Hmmm... just please don't ask me these kinds of questions again so I don't have to.