Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25266931-20161112032800/@comment-25396609-20161112034254

You need to remember the kind of stress people are put under when they have that kind of responsibility dropped on them; especially a kid or a teenager.

Our species has an automatic emotional response that is triggered when we are under a great deal of stress; the flight or fight response/ It is perfectly natural for someone overwhelmed by the (metaphorical and on rare occasions literal) weight of the world upon their shoulders.

That's not fiction, that is psychological fact. Sure, people may talk big "if the fate of the world depended on me i would be all over that"  but they know, deep down, they can't handle that shit.

Keep in mind humans are complex and inherently selfish creatures. You call it unrealistic but you clearly don't understand how humans function on a fundamental level if you think dodging earth-shattering responsibility is unnatural.