Fear

One of my deepest fears is being eaten by another human being. Cannibalism. I believe cannibalism rarely happens. Still from time to time news reports detail the atrocious act of a human eating another human. I’ve had the fear of being eaten by another human since I was a young boy. I must have learned the meaning of cannibal on a television documentary. Cartoons and sitcoms were my favorite shows to watch on TV. Cartoons and sitcoms were not always on TV in the 1980’s. Not like today with internet enabled television where you can choose from a vast and expanding library of videos and live broadcasts to watch 24 hours a day. In the 1980’s if a scary show was on TV I’d usually look for a different show to watch. The horror genre was never a favorite of mine. I don’t have a clear memory of when I learned that cantabile’s exist or graphic details of a show on TV that explained cannibalism. When I learned about cannibalism the message became engrained in my mind. I don’t often worry about being eaten by another human. I’ve been writing about what I fear in my journal recently and it felt right to open up about this fear I have not expressed before now.

What motivates a human to eat another human is beyond my comprehension. Throughout history incidents of starvation have forced some humans to eat weaker humans to survive.

Those incidents are few and far between. While starvation is a reality in places around the world many of the people who starve to death don’t resort to cannibalism trying to survive.

The thought of cannibalism is revolting. I believe cannibals are insane human predators. Cannibalism is not a major problem in the world, but when it happens the grotesque news creates memories that last.

It’s hard to shake this topic now that I began writing about cannibalism. It’s a very sad and devastating topic. Now that I’m focusing on the topic I think the first time I heard about it was when I was listening to my mom tell the story of Hansel and Gretel.