Threat

​Goodness knows why but I was considering threats.  They (whoever they are) reckon it is important to know the way things stand and work on what needs working on.
So often things are annihilated to remove potential threats.  If there is a nest of poisonous spiders in my room, I annihilate them.  I remove the threat completely.  I know the potential for harm exists until I have dealt with every last one of the spiders. 
To me the civil war in Sri Lanka was like that (though I think to describe it as the internal war may be better, as war is more uncivil than civil to me.)  The Sri Lankan military felt like they needed to annihilate the Tamil Tigers completely.  I am not considering the rightness or wrongness of any cause but the methods and result.
I am looking at this from a personal point of view.  It is important to me I differentiate between a perceived threat and an actual threat.
A perceived threat may be the product of my imagination.  I may be imagining the worst when there is no evidence to suggest the worst is likely.  That to me has anxiety all over it.  I personally reckon there is never a case for anxiety.  There is a case for doing something when need be, but there is never a case for being anxious about a matter.
Australia has a lot of threats, but the perception is often worse than the reality.  Some visitors are led to believe Australia has a lot of snakes and poisonous spiders waiting on the runway for visitors.  That just is not true.  They are next to the runways.
But there are real threats. While I do not believe it is right to worry unnecessarily about such things, I do believe it right to take precautions.  People we know kept cows on a big property.  They saw a few snakes in their time.  The wife said you smell them before you see them.  They smell like something has died.  The smell is there one day and gone the next.  We smelled that near where we sit so now we ensure the door is always shut.
But it is the threats that come into my mind I cannot shut outside the house.  But I can shut them outside the house that is me.
A guy told me today about how close he came to jumping off a cliff.  The threat in his mind was almost overpowering.  Fortunately, he did not do it and he is a very different person today.  A lot of people do do it though.
I know I need to differentiate between what is a real threat and a perceived only one.  But whatever the case, with help, I ensure they are not welcome here.