Why I'm posting on this is cos I think of this question in another way.
You know, in shows where there is a zombie apocalypse, it always starts out with one guy behaving strangely and some bystander asks him if he's ok, only to get bitten and be the first victim? Then they start biting other folks and people start to panic right?
Then the infection spreads and all that.
So there always comes to a part when someone says. "The police will come and help right?" or "The military or the US or Japan or whoever" will come and help right? And these folks wait in vain for help as the police and military have already been eaten. And they realize too late that they have only themselves left and they have to fend for themselves and that the world has changed and nothing is going to be the same anymore. Then society breaks down and people kill each other to get resources and all that...
Ok so the point of this post is something like that.
Think about it. A situation which starts off mildly.
Someone in Singapore has a strange new infection. He is quarantined. Somehow, there is someone else who gets infected and is also quarantined. Soon about 50 people are infected daily. (Similar to statistics for dengue) Most citizens would not be particularly alarmed, expecting the government to handle the situation, and they take some precaution like buying more insect repellent (during the Zika incident in Singapore). But how do you know that things won't spiral out of control? How do you know the government has gotten a control over the situation? For example during the SARS period. How do you know that things would get better? It's always easy to think that you can run or fly to another country if things get bad enough. But think about it. If it is an infection. When things get bad enough, no other countries will be willing to accept you. You can't run if you wait for things to get bad enough.
So would you know if the world as you know it was about to end?
What if there was a war? Maybe it started out as some small riot or disagreement with another country? And as usual citizens believe that the government will handle it similarly. After a few months, one thing leads to another and before you realize it, all flights are grounded and the country is at war. Similar to what happened in Syria. I'm sure people would have run away earlier if they had known things were going to be in such a state.
So if something happens, would you know when to run? Would you be the first few to leave? Cos there WILL be some who will be fast enough or smart enough to recognize the situation and run first. Then there will be a lot of others who did not realize what was happening and are left stuck in a torn country.
I'm not recommending people run away and not do their national service as all Singaporean males are supposed to serve their country and defend it against hostile elements. But my post here isn't particularly talking about running away during war. It's pretty much. If the world you knew was crumbling. Like in a viral infection. Or some form of disease like the Black Death. Which was estimated to have killed 30%-60% of Europe's population. Would you know when to run? To save your own skins? Or would you wait until it is too late and you are one of the straddlers stuck and unable to move.
In truth, I have no answer to this question. I may never know when the next issue will be the life changing issue. I will never know whether the next medical emergency be the one that turns my world upside down. I just tell myself to be aware and to think a bit more. To just consider "WHAT IF" when some new issue arises. And also to think that would I be able to drop my existing life now and just fly away to another country to seek refuge and start a new life until I can return. Or I might never even be able to return.
Anyway the point of this post is to make readers aware that everyone will want to run when things turn bad. The problem is usually, when that happens, it is already too late. So the question is, will you know when things are taking a turn for the worse and make a move before things get out of hand?
Cos seriously... I don't want to be a zombie. I'm going to be one of the survivors.
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