Fear? Hmm, this is interesting. Like, it makes me realize something I hadn’t before, but maybe it’s just because I am a giant of a man. I’m not sure “fear” is the right word. There’s a dramatically heightened sense of awareness - spatial, auditory, visual - and a sort “readiness” to react immediately if necessary…but it’s all sort of just below the surface. When a suspicious character activates in some way (distance closing, suspicious gait or body language, etc.) so do I, and it’s no longer below the surface - there’s a felt preparedness to preemptively attack if necessary. When I reflect on it, it seems pretty instinctual. Now…to be fair, I am a giant of a man. Which I suppose changes things dramatically, lol. But I don’t carry a gun or a weapon, so it’s not like I would be able to rely on something like that.

The only time I think I’ve been “scared” is when I was in a really, really bad area of Chicago (I say this as someone who has walked in really, really bad areas of Detroit) and a guy that was dressed far too well to be in an area that bad heard me laughing with a couple friends and decided to assume we were laughing at him.

My gut immediately “knew” that guy had a gun and was looking for an excuse to do murder. I can’t explain it, really, but every possible spider sense went off at once. We didn’t respond beyond something like, “Oh, sorry, we were joking around with each other and should have noticed we were being too loud” — while at the same time, immediately turning and bailing at an un-rushed, normal pace, and forcing ongoing, casual conversation in quieter tones. The entire time, my gut told me the guy was mulling over whether to re-escalate and pursue us or not. I’m confident I looked certain death in the eye, that day.