What is wrong with people?

Have you ever noticed that in movies, as soon as they hear chains clanking in the attic or unexplained blood running down the stairs, people go to the source instead of getting the heck out of there! Vampires can't come in unless you invite them and they always do in the movies. They always go on a trip on a horribly rainy evening and think nothing of asking for refuge in a dark house that belongs to some person that looks strangely like a witch. It just happens in the movies, right? People aren't that stupid in real life, right?

Wrong!

I first discovered this when my husband and I were first married. We lived next door to a lovely family with two little girls. We got to be great friends so when the girls had a Halloween sleepover, we couldn't resist. First, we called their mother and told her we wanted to 'spook' the girls. She laughed and said to go ahead and try. Well, we planted a recorder with scary music in the bushes outside the front window, donned masks and pressed our scary faces into the window glass and tapped. One of the girls peeked out, screamed . . . and then the whole bunch of them ran outside to investigate! Their mother was shocked. She was sure they would run and hide at the first scary indication yet they headed directly into an unknown danger.

Japan, as everyone knows by now, had a massive earthquake today which caused tsunami conditions all the way to California. What is the first thing some reporters see here at California beaches? People standing at the shore to see what might happen! One couple had come with babies in their arms. Granted, the tsunami warning was not fulfilled in Southern California beaches but . . . no one knew for certain. Why on earth would people risk live and limb to wait and watch at the foot of a lot more water than they could ever contend with if it took off.

Sadly, one man in Northern California did lose his life due to a tsunami that started in Japan. The Northern coast of California DID sustain some tsunami-related damage and this man was there to take pictures. Hope there is a photo developing store in eternity.