Who or What is after you?

For the second day the Kadizzles worked on the Chillicut Trail. The Commander hiked with some friends way into the wilderness while Kadizzle cleared brush from a bad spot in the trail.  After walking for awhile Kadizzle noticed someone was following him.  Eventually another hiker caught up with Kadizzle. The fellow seemed friendly, and we had a nice conversation about hiking and whatever.  However, the man was armed with a sidearm.  Kadizzle is always puzzled when he encounters someone carrying a handgun in the wild.  What are they afraid of? Who are they afraid of? Kadizzle has hiked his entire life and never encountered a person or animal that threatened him.  What is it like to live a life of fear?  You are out in the absolute middle of nowhere and you are afraid.  Afraid of what? Once in 15 years we saw a black bear. It ran away as fast as it could . Once The Commander claims she saw a mountain lion, it ran away.  We have encountered hundreds of people, and never felt we needed a gun. We have hiked and camped along the Mexican border, and countless other supposedly dangerous places, and never needed a gun.  We never needed a wall around our house.  What do you do to yourself when you live in a world of fear? The first thing you do is cut yourself off from so much.  You are afraid to so so many things.  You shrink your world and you fence yourself into a little protected eggshell.  On the other hand if you could not go out your front door unless you have a gun, then perhaps you have created a freedom for yourself.  To Kadizzle it seems like an imaginary freedom, but to the guy with the gun it is like a blanket, or a shell.  Who wants to carry a shell around, maybe a turdle?