Global Q&A: ‘What scares you?’

A wide scope of fears from global worries to concerns for humanity poured forth from Brazil to Pakistan ...
Global Q&A: ‘What scares you?’
Jill Palmer, 27, Medical Records Specialist (Robin Kemker/The Epoch Times)
6/15/2009
Updated:
6/24/2009

A wide scope of fears, from existential questions of one’s own mortality to worries for the future of the world, poured forth from Brazil to Pakistan when our Epoch Times reporters asked, “What scares you?”

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/USA-Utah-090615_Jill_Palmer_robinkemker_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/USA-Utah-090615_Jill_Palmer_robinkemker_medium.jpg" alt="Jill Palmer, 27, Medical Records Specialist (Robin Kemker/The Epoch Times)" title="Jill Palmer, 27, Medical Records Specialist (Robin Kemker/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87500"/></a>
Jill Palmer, 27, Medical Records Specialist (Robin Kemker/The Epoch Times)
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Jill Palmer, 27, Medical Records Specialist

I do have kids and I am scared about what they are exposed to at a younger age. I did not know the things at their age that they are exposed to. I am concerned that they are exposed to the internet in homes where parents aren’t monitoring what they see. Children don’t stay innocent as long, at least that is what I am seeing. You hope your kids will be a leader, not a follower in this. As parents, we don’t want to be the ‘bad guy’ and set limits that they think are unfair, but we need to protect them.


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/USA-Wiscon-DonTeffer_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/USA-Wiscon-DonTeffer_medium.jpg" alt="Don Teffer, 78, Organic Farmer  (The Epoch Times)" title="Don Teffer, 78, Organic Farmer  (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87501"/></a>
Don Teffer, 78, Organic Farmer  (The Epoch Times)
Hales Corners, Wisconsin, USA
Don Teffer, 78, Organic Farmer

The scariest thing is the amount of pesticides and herbicides being used by farmers and home owners. Species are disappearing like crazy ... salamanders, butterflies, less birds, no bats, crayfish, and in our lake here [Kelly Lake], there are no more bullheads in it. Also we noticed the lily pads or lotus flowers are gone. Bees are also disappearing and we need wild bees for pollination. I do not know what people are thinking ... Our Kelly Lake used to be a pristine lake that I knew for over 70 years, and we could drink the water. They used to cut ice in the winter time off of it and sell it to the area taverns for ice cubes -- that’s how clear it was. Now it is nothing but a mess of algae, and the wild life is gone. It’s a real mess!

The chemicals include Cutrine Plus, Aquathol K, and 2,4-D, which is super toxic and is like Agent Orange used in Vietnam to kill all the jungle growth, are all run off and dumped into the lake now.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Brazil_LeandraMarques_FelipeGabiroboertz_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Brazil_LeandraMarques_FelipeGabiroboertz_medium.jpg" alt="Leandra Marques, 21, Oil and Gas Engineering Student (Felipe Gabiroboertz/The Epoch Times)" title="Leandra Marques, 21, Oil and Gas Engineering Student (Felipe Gabiroboertz/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87502"/></a>
Leandra Marques, 21, Oil and Gas Engineering Student (Felipe Gabiroboertz/The Epoch Times)

 

 

Cabo Frio, Brazil
Leandra Marques, 21, Oil and Gas Engineering Student

Violence. Because I live in a country where the economic inequality is huge, and that generates violence and absurd acts. I feel that because of this we don’t have enough protection.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/edited20090615_Slovakia_AlenaKantorisova_ingridLongauerova_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/edited20090615_Slovakia_AlenaKantorisova_ingridLongauerova_medium.jpg" alt="Alena Kantorisova, 28, Mail Deliverer (The Epoch Times)" title="Alena Kantorisova, 28, Mail Deliverer (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87503"/></a>
Alena Kantorisova, 28, Mail Deliverer (The Epoch Times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presov, Slovakia
Alena Kantorisova, 28, Mail Deliverer

I have fear that I will lose my job. And why? Bills, bills, bills ... This, and then children, are things that I am really worried about. These are the most important things for me because now, when one loses their job, I think one doesn’t have the opportunity to get as good a job as one had. That’s how it’s going today.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Italy_1245092105_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Italy_1245092105_medium-338x450.jpg" alt="Donatella Artini, 42, Corner Grocery Store Owner (The Epoch Times)" title="Donatella Artini, 42, Corner Grocery Store Owner (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87504"/></a>
Donatella Artini, 42, Corner Grocery Store Owner (The Epoch Times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le Ville Terranuova bracciolini, Italy
Donatella Artini, 42, Corner Grocery Store Owner

The future, because the past we know, the present we are living now, and the future we don’t know what will happen.




<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Japan_090613_SoukaYOSHIOKA_MiwakoNISHIMURA_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Japan_090613_SoukaYOSHIOKA_MiwakoNISHIMURA_medium.jpg" alt="Souka Yoshioka, 69, Japanese Tea Master (Miwako Nishimura/The Epoch Times)" title="Souka Yoshioka, 69, Japanese Tea Master (Miwako Nishimura/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87505"/></a>
Souka Yoshioka, 69, Japanese Tea Master (Miwako Nishimura/The Epoch Times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tokyo, Japan
Souka Yoshioka, 69, Japanese Tea Master

I am scared of sickness. In Japanese tea ceremony, we should use all our fingers and gestures very carefully to show how graceful it is. In every action I must behave like a professional tea master. For example, to stand up smoothly with both legs while holding the tea instruments, to move the hands quickly making the delicious Matcha [tea made from a variety of finely-powdered green tea]. And the students need my lectures. So I feel that for me, who is positioned as a tea master, I have to be healthy at all times.



<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Netherlands_09-06-15_KapingWong_KayanWong_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Netherlands_09-06-15_KapingWong_KayanWong_medium.jpg" alt="Kaping Wong, 17, Student (The Epoch Times)" title="Kaping Wong, 17, Student (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87506"/></a>
Kaping Wong, 17, Student (The Epoch Times)

Utrecht, The Netherlands
Kaping Wong, 17, Student

Well, I am afraid of ghosts. It sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, but they do exist. Last year, my sister went to a concentration camp in Germany and took some pictures of the camp and the environment. When she came back from Germany, I was wondering what pictures she took. I saw ghosts in the background of a few pictures. In one picture, I saw an old woman ghost, and in another there were three or four ghost’s heads. Normally, I am not afraid when I watch a thriller like “The Grudge.” But those pictures really scared me.


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Greece-hope-to-replace-IMG_0286_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Greece-hope-to-replace-IMG_0286_medium.JPG" alt="Vera Moudaki, 57, Retired Travel Agent (The Epoch Times)" title="Vera Moudaki, 57, Retired Travel Agent (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87507"/></a>
Vera Moudaki, 57, Retired Travel Agent (The Epoch Times)

 

 

 

 

Athens, Greece
Vera Moudaki, 57, Retired Travel Agent

Heavy illness scares me because I can’t face it.



 

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/090615_KirraAustralia_JoellaMoy_14-24-45_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/090615_KirraAustralia_JoellaMoy_14-24-45_medium-338x450.jpg" alt="Joella Moy, 54, Counselor Therapist (Laurel Andress/The Epoch Times)" title="Joella Moy, 54, Counselor Therapist (Laurel Andress/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87508"/></a>
Joella Moy, 54, Counselor Therapist (Laurel Andress/The Epoch Times)

 

 

Kirra, Australia
Joella Moy, 54, Counselor Therapist

What scares me is old age, because parts of my body are slowly aging, breaking down, and there seems to be very little that I can do about it. I have osteoarthritis in the knee. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon, and he basically said, ‘Well, it’s old age, these things happen, take some glucose amine tablets, pain killers, but there’s nothing much you can do.’ I have today off because I slipped a disk on the weekend and I’m in pain. I have just come up here to get pain killers. It’s disturbing me plus I have menopause, so it’s all sort of hit me. It’s scary. I’m thinking, I’ve got another statistically 30 years left; if it’s going to get much worse than this, and what can I do to prevent it. And there doesn’t seem to be very much, apart from taking medication, which I don’t really like to do. I hate taking pain killers. But there’s no alternative; that’s what the orthopedic surgeon is saying, that the only thing I can do is to grin and bear it for the next 30 years of my life.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/05-26-09_pakistan_shandanasiad_masoomahaq_14-24-48_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/05-26-09_pakistan_shandanasiad_masoomahaq_14-24-48_medium-338x450.jpg" alt="Shandana Said, 28, Information Technology Sector (The Epoch Times)" title="Shandana Said, 28, Information Technology Sector (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87509"/></a>
Shandana Said, 28, Information Technology Sector (The Epoch Times)

 

 

Islamabad, Pakistan
Shandana Said, 28, Information Technology Sector

What scares me is the degeneration of human ethics, values, and behavior caused by the global increase in population, increased competition for every resource, and the instinct to put another person down in order to advance oneself. Humans left unchecked by their own consciences and controlled by increasingly lowered standards can prove dangerous.

 

 

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/PeterLonn001_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/PeterLonn001_medium.jpg" alt="Peter Lonn, 23, Student, with his girlfriend Jessica Karlsson (The Epoch Times)" title="Peter Lonn, 23, Student, with his girlfriend Jessica Karlsson (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87510"/></a>
Peter Lonn, 23, Student, with his girlfriend Jessica Karlsson (The Epoch Times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gävle, Sweden
Peter Lönn, 23, Student

Falling down from a high place—I’m scared of losing balance and not having anything to hold onto. I don’t know why. It has never happened to me, but that’s what scares me the most.

 

 

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ChristineKorn_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ChristineKorn_medium-338x450.jpg" alt="Christine Korn, 28 years, Recruitment Officer (Jiang Wen/The Epoch Times)" title="Christine Korn, 28 years, Recruitment Officer (Jiang Wen/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-87511"/></a>
Christine Korn, 28 years, Recruitment Officer (Jiang Wen/The Epoch Times)

Hamburg, Germany
Christine Korn, 28 years, Recruitment Officer

I’m afraid of being in a car accident when I ride in a car in the front passenger seat. I’m also afraid that my family might be hurt in this accident. I don’t want to hand the controls of the car to another person while riding in it.

 

 

 

 

Look for the Global Q&A column every week, when Epoch Times correspondents interview people around the world to learn about their lives and perspectives on local and global realities.

Next week’s global question: When was the last time you tried something new?