Wednesday, March 6, 2013

If you were going to be raped . . .

Sometimes people ask this question when trying to get to know people:

"If your house was on fire and you could take one thing with you, what would it be?"

The thing is, some people have come home and found their house on fire. It's a terrible experience. Most people don't respond rationally. I was 15 and I was scared, I just called 9-1-1, grabbed a book and ran out. My mom was 54 and was had a total panic attack.

I still feel like I could have gotten a hose and put out what was a pretty small fire (spreading on the carpet) when I found it. It haunted me for years. And whenever people ask their question, like the Harvard University Housing questionnaire or a pre-freshmen program I did at MIT, it just brings up a lot of bad memories.

I hate to make light of more serious crimes, but I'd compare it to asking people something like:

"If you were about to be raped and you could choose vaginal or anal penetration, which would you choose?"
"If you were pregnant and had to abort one of your twins to save the other, would you abort the boy or the girl?"
"If you sadist broke into you home and gave you the option of having him chop off an arm or a leg hand, which would you choose?"

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