EXISTENTIAL THREATS BIRTHS NEW CAPABILITIES Pt 1

A friend turns Usain bolt.

We once had a black breed German Shepherd dog in a past residence our family lived. Out of the over 15 dogs we ever raised, this particular dog was the most notorious and aggressive we had.?

Someday, my brother was taking this dog on a walk across the street when a family of seven 'local' dogs swarmed us. I quickly hid behind our gate as a crazy dog fight was ensuing. It began when one of the local dogs kept howling on sighting our dog on their 'territory', and in few minutes all seven dogs assembled about 40 meters away.

Our dog crouched, focused fully on the incoming dogs and launched out just as it was being attacked. By the end of the fight, our dog had removed the scalp of one of the neighborhood dogs and giving cut to another. The attacking dogs eventually retreat and we pulled our dog back into our house.?

We assumed it ended there.?

Days later, as my brother opened the gate for my dad to drive out to work at 5am, our dog managed to escape unnoticed and went straight to the neighbors house on a revenge mission, where it killed one of those seven dogs and ran back home quietly. The remaining dogs kept howling throughout the entire morning. And the owners did come to look for our family.?

The above story gives an insight to the reputation of aggression this dog had. It was not the kind of dog you pick a stone to throw at on the street. It would maul you down like a wolf.?Many of my friends would get clarity before visiting as no one wanted to encounter it. And we did restrain it far from view.?

However, a childhood friends did have a sorry encounter with the dog during an unannounced visit. He had visited us, and unknown to him the dog had loosed itself from the chain and opened the door to our residence choosing to sleep in the dark cool passage that linked the outermost door to the inner door.?

My friend walked into the building and climbed two set of staircases to reach the floor. He opened the outermost door and for two seconds he and the dog (waking up from a deep sleep) gazed at each other wearily.?

According to him the dog countenance changed from sleep weariness to a deep frown, and he decided to run.?From my room, I heard two kinds of noise which woke me from sleep. The first was that of my friend running, screaming aloud. The second was that of the four legged creature pursuing with the nails screeching the hard floor with an increasing belligerent growl.?

I knew what had happened, so I ran out of my room to chase after the dog. Deep down, I knew even if my friend managed to escape a run, the dog would get him on the staircases.?

Alas i never heard his footsteps descending the stairs as I ran to the staircase to secure the dog, though I heard that of the dog. In fact, I could not see my friend on the ~20m long compound stretch from the balcony view. Did he vanish??

At the balcony, I looked again and this time I saw a lanky somebody fading out of sight at over 100m towards leaving the estate at an incredible dash speed, until I could no longer see him. But I recognized him even afar off.?

Later he would come back and we both marveled for minutes how he jumped two set of long?staircases with just a giant leap each, and then go on to cover that length?of ground on an uphill topography in such few minutes.?

His experience isn't really unusual, human beings under the influence of adrenaline do the most outstanding things when faced with threats of existential proportion.

Now, I have come to realize that existential threats when they happen briskly can reveal unexplored attributes. Now, when those threats are sustained, the sheer instinct to live creates something far more powerful in a human being, or in a population. I have noted such examples of dangerous capabilities emerging in the business and geopolitical world in the face of certain death.?

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