Dealing With Danger... Responsibly

I believe my story is mostly targeted for guys, about learning to deal with danger responsibly. Living in the UAE, we are fortunate enough to be able to call ourselves in absolute safety. We stand close to no risk of being kidnapped, robbed, or beaten up. While this is undoubtedly a blessing for any parents raising their children, for the children themselves – especially teenagers like myself – this absolute lack of danger can be suffocating, challenging us to take risks that defy common sense. My “experience” happened last year, and gave me a glimpse of the reality we are (rightly) shielded from. I was hanging out on the beach relatively late at night with a dozen friends, chatting about life, the universe and everything, when a bunch of 10-year olds came over to annoy us. Finding this really funny, a couple of my friends took to chasing the screaming children away. Turns out, one of them had his big brother just further down the beach with his gang, and told him that he and his friends had been chased by some really creepy guys so can you please oh please go beat them up? After that, things started happening very quickly. The gang in question was around 20 guys roughly our age; either 15, 16 or 17. They were also all in questionable states of intoxication. The air was tense, and everyone was on edge. All my guy friends felt it; they were challenging us, and we wanted to respond, to fight back, to prove ourselves. We still did, half an hour later, as we were frantically catching taxis and going home. But that’s not how it worked out. In the end, one of the girls in our group knew a guy in the other group, and thus nerves were soothed and biceps were un-flexed, as my friends nonchalantly packed our stuff and slipped away. Then we all ran. Afterwards, we all agreed we had achieved the most favourable outcome. We had slipped away without the slightest injury, and now had a good story to tell our other friends. The truth is: When things begin getting dangerous, it’s okay to run away. Don’t let the illusion of grandeur, that desire for danger ruin your life and health. If we had fought that night, we could have come out with broken noses, internal bleeding, broken bones, and possibly injuries to handicap us for years to come. Also, just ignore annoying little kids.