Shocks are always sudden, and while we often learn to expect a shock or two in life, we never see them coming. That’s why they are shocking.
Some shocks are a passing thing:
I know a young woman (a student of mine here in Jeonju) who was just dumped by her boyfriend. One day he told her he loved her, and the next he said, “Forget I said that,” and dumped her. I can’t guess why he did this, but I know that the girl’s shock is a passing thing, for she is very young and very nice and is quite certain to meet other, nicer boys in her lifetime. But she was shocked by what he said and did, and I was shocked by my perspective on the situation. I am actually old enough now to see such youthful shocks as a passing thing.
Some shocks are really bad, and disturbing:
I found out something very shocking a few days ago about someone I used to know. He gave his computer to someone and when that person used the computer, they found something very shocking (in a very very bad way, like, illegal bad, and mentally-ill bad). I think this person’s life as he knows it is going to pretty much collapse and there’s nothing he can do about it, and while some part of me is sympathetic to this happening to anyone, another part of me is very harsh toward him and thinks that he shouldn’t be living in the life he is living in, considering the sickness of what was found. Supposedly. This is all hearsay of course.
Some shocks we need:
The pool at school is not very warm. Whenever I go swimming, the first minute is a shock. I try everything, from splashing a little water onto myself, to jumping right in and bracing myself against the chilliness. But every time, it’s a shock, one I just need to face if I am going to swim every day. And I am… which would shock my family who used to think (and actually told me when I left for Korea) that I would never exercise. Maybe I’ll join some of the guys who go to the campus gym, too. Yeah! I’m going to lose ten kilos by the end of the year. And I’ll be shocked in the very best way when I succeed!