Reading and writing here, I am reminded of Nietzsche and his famous observation: "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you."

Frankly, I think a glance now and then is heathy but it can become an obsession. Looking long and hard at unsettling topics affects different people differently. Some are influenced adversely, others are not.

On this Locals we look at plenty of 'scary' possibilities, worrisome events, and interpretations of events. We post reports or viewpoints that may or may not be accurate with the assumption that we all can handle it without being drawn off-centre or being harmed. Not everyone can.

Some people who walk confidently across the living room or down the street without ever falling could not walk along a solid steel beam hundreds of feet above the pavement without panicking and falling. Some people can stand calmly on the edge of a cliff, and some cannot.

I am reminded of Nathaniel Hawthorn's cautionary story, Young Goodman Brown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Goodman_Brown: