Have you ever been in a life or death situation?

[cali]

Yes, this thread is inspired by the man who left his children and fiancee in the theater in Aurora.

When I say life or death situation, I specifically mean a situation where this is an ongoing threat. I've never been shot but I have twice been in life or death situations. And on another occasion, I was in a very dangerous one that may or may not have been life threatening.

One of those times I was cross country skiing 25 years ago. It was stupid and it was our fault. I was with my then husband and another couple. We'd all had pretty extensive outdoor experience but we managed to time our jaunt poorly and because it was getting late in the afternoon, we made the piss poor decision to cross the lake instead of going around. The long and the short of it is that the ice started cracking beneath us. There was actual open water when we were about halfway across the lake which at that point is only about a mile. Our one headlamp burned out. I was so scared that a couple of times I just froze. I couldn't breath. I couldn't talk. It was like I couldn't get my legs to move, and I had to be coaxed along. As we neared the shore one of my party fell through. Fortunately the two guys hauled her out really quickly and we made it to shore.

You just don't know how you'll react to overwhelming fear and shock.

[geckosfeet]

1. Yes. No firearms involved though.

Time kind of stopped. I was in a different place. It was over so fast that there was no time be afraid.

Also a run in with cancer. That gives you a lot of time to think.

Glad you made it across that lake.

[texanwitch]

2. Yes, three times.

Thought I was going to die.

I must be part cat.

Don't know why I am still here.

[cali]

3. And I'm awfully glad you made it through cancer!

[liberalmuse]

4. Yes...

Time does stop. My only concern was for my daughter, and how to get her out of a car hanging over a cliff, especially since I had to get out first without causing her and the car to go over the edge, because she had no way out on her side. Very scary!

[nc4bo]

5. 2 a.m. sound sleep after cooking/eating T-day dinner. smoke filled house.

yes.

a voice is saying GET UP. who is that? it's a dream. no. not real. real! almost froze. i don't want to wake hubby, he's sooo tired. why is the room filled with smoke. why can't i breath. it's so black in here, can't see. why is it so hot in here? he'll be kindof mad if i woke him up for nothing.

no no nononnonononono. dreaming.

fred get up house on fire!!!!! get mom!

I refuse to judge anyone during a time of crisis.

Sometimes we make right decisions, sometimes it all goes horribly wrong.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

6. Kind of. Thought I was going to get hit by a tornado...

We had to drive down the street to take cover in a church basement during a tornado warning. It ended up hitting a couple miles down the road, but the news had just said the town was going to take a direct hit.

I think it was the first time in my life that instinct just took over. There was no time to be afraid. I got hit by a large hail ball and didn't even feel it.

[guneydomuz]

7. Yes, many times with and without firearms involved

I always know when I am in the a life or death situation because I automatically go into the zone, I do not panic either and I can remember every detail with amazing accuracy.

I sort of get off on it too but I ain't wired right either.

I drives many people nuts!

[tridim]

8. Hiking by myself (derp), I happened upon a freshly killed deer with a few bites taken out of it.

I never saw the perp, but I assumed the bear or cat was watching me. I ran like hell.

Edited to mention that later on that same hike I also happened upon a large group of nudists swimming in the river. Really. Interesting trip.

[msanthrope]

22. Surf and turf, eh?

Sorry...I've had a run of bad puns on the board lately...

[kestrel91316]

27. I hope you realize for future reference that your running away could have

provoked a pursuit by that cat.............

[tridim]

44. Fight or flight. I chose flight.

I was a novice, that's why I shouldn't have been alone.

[RebelOne]

9. I decided to try skydiving.

On my 6th and final jump, the wind caught my chute and I was headed to a huge clump of pine trees. I did not know if I was going to be able to control the chute. I knew if I hit those trees I would be a goner. Fortunately, I landed just at the edge of the trees. That was when I decided to end my skydiving career.

[KurtNYC]

10. I was attacked by an off-leash 140 pound dog

and I was in a plane that caught fire on take-off. I have been beat up, shot at, in car crashes. Fought a pick pocket. I would not have thought I would make it through all of those but it taught me something -- you don't really know what you CAN do until you HAVE to do it. When the dog was charging me I remember thinking 'if this thing gets you on the ground or gets to your neck it could kill you.' 1 second later it had its teeth in my right elbow and I had its collar in my right hand. It was the wrestling match of my life.

I think the reaction of stopping or freezing on breaking ice is survival instinct. The usual options are fight or flight but with ice you want to stop and move carefully.

As for the guy in the theater, I can't judge. He may have thought that everyone was running. People get tunnel vision in these things; self-preservation takes over. I don't know the details. Did he run over them or he just ran and they didn't?

[cali]

12. Sounds like you've had more experiences than I have

I was definitely the weak link in that trek across Lake Willoughby. No one else froze. And I knew that the Lake freezes later than other lakes in Vermont because of its depth and currents. The other couple were visiting us and not from the area. My ex-husband grew up on the lake and he was the one who insisted it was safe. Still the scariest experience of my life if only because the exposure to danger was over a considerable length of time.

Foreboding lake. Pics.

https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=553&q=Lake+Willoughby&oq=Lake+Willoughby&gs_l=img.12..0l3j0i24l7.2196.5493.0.9153.15.10.0.5.5.0.312.1817.1j6j2j1.10.0...0.0...1ac.pLLAM5D9WAU

[digonswine]

11. Have you read-

Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink"? It goes into some detail about what happens in this situation and why we should be not so quick to judge the actions of others in the situation.

[Tom Ripley]

25. I always call him "Brian Eno Without Musical Talent"

He is very glib.

[digonswine]

46. Interesting-

I'll read up when I have some more time.

[HooptieWagon]

13. Yes, many times of of varying degree, but not like the theatre.

You are right, time seems to stop. I was amazed to be able to analyze the situation and formulate a successful plan... it couldn't have taken but a few seconds. I haven't received any formal training, like military or LE, but I think lesser emergencies earlier in life prepared me for greater ones later. In a few instances, people with me panicked and froze. I don't think they were cowardly... people are simply wired differently and have different life experiences. Sometimes people are suddenly faced with a situation for which they are completely unprepared and overwhelmed.

[laundry_queen]

14. yep

Came too close to an avalanche, nearly got pulled under by an undertow, f4 tornado a mile from my house.

I can relate to the time slowing down thing. I remember everything about those circumstances very vividly.

[Warpy]

15. Exactly, I learned a long time ago that people act strangely

when they're in shock. Some are so overwhelmed they go into a fugue state where they wander around on autopilot like nothing has happened. Others scream in a corner. Most people do and say things they'd never do or say when they're not overwhelmed by shock.

I've had a lot of opportunity to see this stuff as a nurse. There's no way I'd condemn the poor slob for his actions. Shock is like that.

[cthulu2016]

16. I get a dis-associative sense (maybe good for survival)

I am not a brave person, at all, but I'm good in a crisis because it seems like something happening to someone else. (And I always know what "someone else" should do, if you know what I mean.)

Patton would just walk around in battles like it was impossible for him to be shot, even as everyone around him was seeking cover. Brave or dumb? Probably neither. More solipsitic.

Everyone is different.

As with all things in life, we should make allowances for how people are... but only up to a point because we cannot make infinite allowances. (Like in the DEAD ZONE when Martin Sheen uses a child as a shield during an assassination attempt, ending his political career.)

Not everyone will do the "right thing," but there are limits. Out of a few hundred people, should the very worst reaction be stigmatized? Yes. The lowest 1% of human behavior should e stigmatized, even though somebody is that 1%... and it could be you or me.

[cali]

19. good post.

I've been both "brave" and, well, not so brave. I once got between a guy beating up on his girlfriend. He was 6'+ and maybe 180. I was 5'6 and maybe 120. But I don't think it occurred to me that I could be in danger because I was so furious. So it's not only that everyone is different, but that each circumstance of danger is different.

[Vattel]

41. that's very true

sometimes I flight, sometimes I take flight, sometimes I freeze, and sometimes I jump into action. it's weird and I certainly don't judge anyone for what they do in that sort of situation.

[Bluerthanblue]

18. yes, more than once-

and it has taught me that you really NEVER know for sure how you will react. We all like to think we'd be able to think clear-headily, but living it is much different than imagining it.

Thanks for putting this into perspective. It's easy to judge people from the bleachers.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

20. I've been shot at on two seperate occasions.

The first was in the desert outside of Phoenix. I was a teen just got my license, and I was on a dirt road to nowhere. We stopped, got out and bullets hit the ground at our feet.
They were warning shots, but we took the hint and left.

Much more dangerous was outside a bar. I was going to my car and shots rang out. all I could do was crouch behind a car for cover. after a moment of quiet I made in back to the bar and called the cops. When they arrived I walked them out to where it all happened. The thugs were long gone. But there were bullet holes in the wall behind me.

I think I walked into a drug deal gone bad. Not something you would expect in the nice part of town (near ASU).

But those are my brushes with death. Apart from that my sister has a cat who hates me, and would plot my nefarious demise if he only had thumbs.

[coalition_unwilling]

64. He's plotting anyway, searching desperately for that thumb-free workaround. Watch out for

hired mercenaries and such-like When our (female) cat gets homicidally angry towards me, she runs to the scratching post and uses it as a proxy for my face

[meaculpa2011]

21. Yes. Gun in my ribs. Hammer pulled.

I looked into his eyes and knew he was going to pull the trigger. At that point I had nothing to lose.

Made a grab for the gun and the shot went into the wall. I would have gladly given him whatever I had, but...

Just another summer afternoon in Fun City.

[TalkingDog]

23. Yes*

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1036402
Here is my response to a person on that thread, but I will relate it more fully here:

I used to work in a downtown bar in the city. I had an hour break about 8 pm before it got busy. I had a friend who lived several blocks away, right across the street from the high school. Since it was a nice evening, I thought I'd walk down, visit a bit and walk back to work.

As I crested the hill about 3 blocks away I saw a lot of cars and vehicles with flashing lights in front of the high school. I figured there was a football game and traffic was being directed around. As I got closer I realized all the vehicles were emergency vehicles and I could see people laying all over the lawn of the school. I broke into a dead run toward the school.

I got to a group of kids who were huddled together, scraped up and crying and asked: What happened?. The football stadium had collapsed, it had just been built 2 or 3 years before. I looked over to see, but it is in a low lying spot and the trees obscured the view. People were lying everywhere, some wandering around, wounded to various degrees, broken bones sticking out, blood everywhere, gaping wounds. EMS running around like crazy trying to do triage. I jumped right in and started grabbing the mildly wounded who were walking around , in shock I surmised, and telling them to sit down and stay until somebody could look at them.

*After about 10 minutes I realized I had arrived at an EMS emergency drill. All the wounded and screaming were there for extra credit in class. It had been announced on the news. I did not see the announcement.

Realizing there were no wounded or dying, I went off by my self and got hysterical.

In the other thread, I also relate an instance where I went into shock, became dissociative and almost abandoned my dying mother at the doctor's office.

You are exactly right. You can't know how you will react to a given situation until you are in it.

[Tom Ripley]

24. Near drowning, been shot at, venomous snakes, narcotics-related misadventures...

electrocution.
I should not be alive.
Every occasion, first I experienced near catatonic panic, then I took action (fight and/or flight)

[Uncle Joe]

26. Once

Last edited Sat Jul 28, 2012, 08:14 PM - Edit history (1)

It was a beautiful spring morning when I pulled into my office parking lot and some painters were getting their equipment out of the truck to paint a tall electrical tower between my real estate office and the post office next door.

About 20 minutes or so after I entered we heard a loud pop and the lights flickered.

We ran outside and the other painters were looking up at their comrade, he was hanging about 60 or 70 feet up the tower by a short rope and smoke was coming from his safety jacket.

He was unconscious at the time and we called 9/11, after just a minute we noticed flames coming from the jacket and the man awoke crying out in pain and screaming for help.

I remember hearing him cry out "I'm dying!"

By then people were coming out of the post office, cars were stopping along Donelson Pike.

I didn't think the police or fire department would get there in time and having no idea what happened, I touched the tower to see if it was charged, (my brother later told me I should have touched it with the back of my hand instead of my palm.)

Fortunately the tower wasn't charged so I started climbing it.

I was thinking that I might be able to pull the man in, hold him and help the rescue people when they arrived.

I have never been so scared in my life and I was cussing God for allowing this to happen.

I was about half way up the tower when I noticed another man climbing up the tower as well and then the victim's safety rope burned through and he fell to the ground.

Another agent; in my office was also a nurse and she gave the man mouth to mouth resuscitation, the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital but he died that morning.

The only thing I know about him is that he was from Sweetwater, Tennessee.

This happened in the mid 1980s and I have relived that morning countless times.

Thanks for the thread, cali.

[nolabear]

39. A hard thing to go through. Thanks for sharing it.

I know what it's like to wonder "what if" and also to know that all that could have been done was done.

Be well.

[whathehell]

28. Yes...Violent;ly attacked by a stranger.

Saw my life flash before my eyes.

[alfredo]

29. Yes

[kestrel91316]

30. Which time??

Obviously I'm still here, but I try to lead a low-risk life anymore.....

[DevonRex]

31. Yes. There are a very few people who react

automatically. They know who they are. It's innate. There are others who have been trained and can react appropriately when in a situation. Even then, some will falter because the reaction isn't innate in them.

This is why so many "heroes" are uncomfortable with the term. They can't imagine acting differently. They feel it should be reserved for the person who acted in spite of being scared to death and not having that automatic response.

[SoCalDem]

32. Many times.

and I have found that I am unusually calm in those moments.. I even had a DA tell me " When someone points a gun at your head, never assume they are joking".

[SoCalDem]

42. Time Given back..my close calls

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Wed Jul-07-10 11:09 AM
Original message


Time given back. Brushes with death

A thread on drowning (in GD) reminded me of all the close calls I have had.. Probably all of us have them.

I think it's guided my views on death as I age (60 now).. I know I have been on borrowed time..many times-over


when I was 3 I was "swept out to sea", and washed up alive

when I was 5 I wandered out onto a guard tower that overhung a several hundred ft drop to the rocky shore below.. I could not read the sign "Peligro".. (I just wanted to see what was down there ..)

when I was 10 I was bitten by a poisonous snake

when I was 13 I came within touching-distance of a leopard shark the size of a Volkswagen bus. He apparently was not hungry, but ruined scuba diving for me

later that year we were on a C-47 coming back to the states, flying over the Gulf of Mexico in a hellacious storm & had the life rafts ready to deploy and all had our MaeWests on.. Luckily we made it to Texas. (our family was waiting in Florida for us)..The engines were spewing oil & sputtering, but we made it..

when I was 20 I was almost hit by a train on the way to my bridal shower.. my car filled with the light of the train, and still don't know what made me take my foot off the gas at just the right time..( I was high-centered on ice and "stuck" on the tracks at an unguarded crossing)..the wind of the train passing "blew my car backwards"

when I was 25, I had an abruption & bled out (8 units of blood transfused in surgery), the night before my husband was to leave on a week-long business trip. I was unconscious before arrival at the hospital

when I was 25 (and 4 months pregnant) I drank from a garden hose at a beach in Acapulco and was the only one who did not get sick on that trip

when I was 28 & a week from delivering our 2nd son, I was broadsided by a car that ran a red light..all I got was a bruised arm & a totaled car. the impact was driver's side just behind my door

when I was 29 I had a second abruption..this time my husband was in Seattle ..I was in Kansas with a 4 yr old & a 1 yr old ...thank goodness for my wonderful neighbors ..)

when I was 30-something, I was robbed at gunpoint, and told the guy to stop joking around.,. he was not joking.


It's amazing how many close calls one has in life.. Any one of these could have been the end, but here I am..and happy to have had the borrowed time.

and wondering about others' close calls..

got any?

[magical thyme]

67. numerous

when I was 27, my 1500 pound horse got tangled in a jump, spun and flipped landing on top of me. I was pinned under her butt; she was apparently not quite conscious. I could feel myself literally flattening and then started to black out. She came to and rolled off me. I sucked in one good breath of air, and then went into back spasms, screaming and thrashing around the ground. Eventually the spasms ended and I managed to get to my feet; she was peacefully grazing nearby. I walked her back up to the barn and the barn manager drove me to the ED to get checked out. The ER doc took one look at me and asked what happened to you?!? I told him. He then said, "Never mind why are you still walking. Why are you still alive?!?!" I was bruised and sore, but nothing broken.

When I was 36, my car hit some black ice and started fishtailing. There was a truck coming the other way, so I decided to use what control I had to take it off the road at what appeared to be an empty field with a few feet of snow. It plowed through the snow into a fence and came to a dead stop, heaved forward and then settled back. I breathed a sigh of relief, at which point the car "took off" sideways, taking out 2 posts and wrapping around a telephone pole. I walked away with a 5th metacarpal fracture from slamming my right hand into the telephone pole, which was now more or less in the passenger seat. Witnesses couldn't believe I walked out alive. The car was totaled.

When I was 45, somebody doubled my horse's grain. Within a couple days he started going crazy broncing. On day 3 or 4, he stood straight up, lost his balance, fell over backwards. There is no way to train for this. People have been crushed by not jumping free soon enough. One trainer I knew jumped too soon and pulled a horse on top of her, ending up with all ligaments in both legs torn. As I felt him teetering, I just kept thinking not yet, not yet, not yet...NOW! I swung my legs off and to the side as he fell backward. The force and momentum were enormous; I sprained my right knee badly hauling it over his back. I landed face down and he landed just next to me. We were eye to eye, and I remember looking him in the eye and trying to scramble away, but I was too late. He rolled over on top of me and then dug his elbow into my back as he hoisted himself to his feet. He ran off bucking, and then looked back confused. Always in the past, if he dumped me, I jumped back to my feet laughing. It had always been a game with him, finding ways to dump me and then never, ever doing it again. He'd bucked me off once, run out from under me once as I was mounting, but never reared me off before.

I was paralyzed below the neck. I had no feeling or movement except for my head. I was literally a head in the dirt. I was able to turn my head to the side and watched him running around bucking, and then trotting, and then stopping and watching me. He didn't know what to do, so just stood quietly and waited. I was ready to die. I absolutely did not want to live like this, just a head. In those moments I gained some understanding of how Chris Reeves lived his last 9 years. I wanted to just die. And then I thought about my birds; they're almost all rescues and had special needs. Nobody would know what their needs were. I started struggling to regain feeling and movement. It was weird, straining my face, sweating and...nothing. Eventually, I slowly regained some feeling in my hands and arms and was able to lift my torso somewhat. Still nothing in my legs, so now I was a paraplegic. After some more time and straining, I slowly regained feeling and movement in my legs. I think overall it was about 20 minutes that I was just a head in the dirt. Along with the sprained knee, I fractured my collarbone where it connects with the sternum. Somewhere during the fall, I bit my tongue. It was so bruised it swelled to double its size and turned black around the edges. I had deep tissue bruises in my thighs that felt like hard lumps deep in my legs; 2 months later they still were surfacing and slowly dissipating. I never thought I'd ride again, and never thought I'd ride him again, but I did for another 7 or 8 years before he retired. He never reared or bucked or ran out from under me again. I buried him last February in a corner of his pasture.

[Mojorabbit]

33. My mind goes clear as can be and I handle the situation wonderfully, then

after the situation is over, sometimes weeks later, I fall apart.

[fishwax]

34. yes, but nothing that was both as explosive and sustained as what happened in the theater

[Ilsa]

35. Yes. It's not easy to think straight,

Especially the first time it happens to you.

[pinboy3niner]

36. Yes, in war. And been shot and nearly killed by AK fire.

To see it happening here is profoundly sad for me.

[onethatcares]

37. chased by a person in a car,

he ran after me on the sidewalks, into a parking lot where he proceeded to smash parked cars into a wall of a business while trying to find me (I was on the other side of a semi trailer next to the wheels) but he saw me and chased me down 4th st south in st petersburg florida for what seemed like an eternity. After he got tired of that he proceeded to run into random cars until a street light post stopped him cold.

He told the police I had thrown a beer bottle at him while I was being towed by my brother in a non running pickup truck.(my truck was non running/brother was towing with his truck).

Apparently his meds kicked in a little stronger than the doc had allowed.

Another time,I watched a dump truck run a vehicle into a street light standard and the woman passenger went through the windshield and then onto the sidewalk. She was cut in the neck area and all I could do was take my tee shirt off and hold it to the wound that was bleeding like crazy. She lived and took my wife out to dinner a few months later, my part in the story was left out of the police report.

[nolabear]

38. Yes, held at gunpoint once with my ex husband.

Stupid us, hitchhiking cross country seemed like a good idea when we were barely twenty. We were actually pretty coolheaded because we could give the guy with the gun a REALLY good reason not to kill us (he was a trucker totally wigged out on speed and we were in his truck; the mess would have been impossible to clean up. And we were smart enough to refuse to get out of the truck until we were in a public place).

Had someone been whanging away with a firearm I don't know what I would do. Like many here I'm one of those people who goes into a cool, calculated survival mode and if I'm going to freak out I do it later, but who knows.

I do know that perfectly wonderful human beings do very unusual things when in a state of panic. I wouldn't presume to come down on anyone who couldn't stay together. As a therapist I've heard stories that leave me openmouthed with shock and sadness, and I never, never think there's right or wrong in what people do. We're just differently made up.

[Brickbat]

40. So, so true. No one knows until they have to do it, and to question the reactions of others in life-

or-death situations is foolish and a waste of time.

[slackmaster]

43. Yes, several times

The first one is the hardest, but it never gets easy.

[H2O Man]

45. Yes, I have.

One time in particular stands out, as it involved a shotgun. I was in college, and living on the third floor of an old hotel. A number of students rented rooms per semester there.

One quiet evening, a friend and I were relaxing over a few beers in my room. We heard a very loud noise, which seemed to come from the alley between our building and the next. Looking out the window, we saw a small crowd gathering, but we couldn't see what the fuss was.

I walked to the door, to go investigate further. But there was a gentleman holding a double-barrel shotgun towards my head. In my opinion, such weapons look even larger than life when pointed at one's head at an approximate 6-inch distance. This fellow accused my neighbor and I of breaking into his room -- something we had not done. We both told him this, and I closed the door.

We could hear him walking away. My friend was smart enough to split immediately. I was barefoot, and for some reason opted to put my sneakers on. Bad choice: the fellow returned to my door, and I could hear him loading the gun.

I began writing a note to my parents & siblings, saying "bye!" Luckily, the police came -- alerted by the fact that this guy had tossed a television at kids walking through the alley. They were able to take him into custody without any shots being fired.

After the incident ended, I immediately went to the closest liquor store, to purchase a large quantity of alcohol for rapid consumption. I recall using the pay phone outside to call a few people. I remember that my hands were shaking. I don't mind admitting that the episode unnerved me, once it had ended,

My neighbor and I found the odd fellow had left his door open. There was a large bag of pot in clear sight. Although the guy had threatened us, we felt that there was no need to call the police, to add additional charges. In a most noble move, we removed that evidence, and burned it for him.

I have had similar experiences, but that was the closest that I've had a gun to my head.

[Jamaal510]

47. Twice.

In October 2001, I was waiting at a bus stop to head to school (I was in the 6th grade), and there was a high-speed chase on Seminary Avenue. The driver made a left down Roberts street, then turned around and he was headed right towards me. My father was waiting with me, and he yelled at me to get out of the way. I did, and the guy crashed into someone's house. He was eventually caught. To this day, I am grateful that my father was there to save my life.

Also In April 2009, I was waiting at a bus stop on 73rd and Sunkist, listening to my iPod. Two shady-looking guys about my age came to me, and first asked me when the bus would be there. Then one of them said "give up yo' shit!"
I was looking like 'WTF?'
He flashed me some handgun, and said again "gimme yo' shit before I pop yo' ass!" Then his partner sucker punched me, and they both stole my wallet, my iPod, my chain, my hat, and my tickets to the Oakland A's game. I was upset, but afraid to retaliate because I was outnumbered, and at least one of them was armed. I had no choice but to return home and notify the authorities. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find the two thugs.

[rock]

49. I have clearly been saved at least four times by health care and modern medicine

See why I wouldn't piss on a conservative even if he was dying of thirst.

[magical thyme]

50. yes. a couple times, but no gunfire involved.

I was walking down a side street in a busy tourist area. Across the street, I saw a toddler break away from her mother and start running toward the street. Her mother was trying to get her back without chasing her into the street. I watched as passersby ignored them both. The toddler reached the side of the street and was hanging on a street sign, teasing her mother.

I saw a car driving up the street. I could tell the driver would be unable to see the toddler. I could feel the mother's scream in my own throat as the little girl started to run into the street. Everybody on that side of the street was walking along in their own little worlds. So I ran in front of the oncoming car to stop the little girl. It was a measured decision. In the last instant, I could tell the car was about to hit me, so I jumped to the side. It came to a rest against my hip, but I was uninjured.

8 years ago, I found my elderly horse and his companion goat hiding beside the barn, the old guy rearing and the goat trying to stay under his belly. I looked across their pasture and saw, between large piles of topsoil, several of my neighbor's cows. I headed out to try to chase them back where they came from and found myself face to face with a 2,000 pound bull with a ring in its nose. (for non-farmers, ring in nose indicates an unfriendly, hard to handle bull.) I backed away slowly while the bull snorted at me (not a good sign), then made a run for it. I caught my panicky horse and got him and Pia the goat safely closed up inside the barn, then left the barn out one side of the barn while the bull walked past the other side and made another run for the gate. I ran up the hill to my house, where I saw my neighbor across the street. I yelled at her to get her gun because there was a bull in my pasture. She yelled back "call the police, it's only a 22!" and ran inside her home. So I ran into my house and called everybody in town with the correct last name. A few minutes later, two farmer brothers arrived and rounded up their livestock.

[PDJane]

51. Yeah, I have. I'm one of those folks who doesn't panic.

I used to, but it happened so often that I got over the panic thing, or maybe it's the antidepressants. I've been mistaken for animal or just shot at, I'm not sure which, I've had my house burn down (arson), I've been run over by a taxicab and dragged 62 feet while pregnant, I've literally saved a couple of lives. One of those times was in a restaurant, of all things, and a choking situation. One was a drunk hassling a child in the street; he grabbed her and I cold-cocked him. I swear, if there is an accident waiting to happen, it finds me (best reason I can think of for not joining the forces).

I've understood the urge to kill in one of those situtations; a friend drove me home, and we were sitting outside my house, in her car, with the emergency brakes and the flashers on.

We were rammed by a drunk driver in a van, so hard that the car collapsed and the kids...three of them, all under 3...were trapped in the backseat. With the front of his van destroyed and gasoline all over the roadway, the drunk driver spent the time between the call to emergency and their arrival trying to restart his van. It's a good thing they were fast, I swear.

And yeah, I understand his impulse to protect himself, but that doesn't make him a sterling example of humanity in my book.

[loyalsister]

52. Often

It is somewhat a way of life for me. I have intractable unpredictable seizures where I lose consciousness.
There have been many life or death events that I have only known concretely in retrospect. I have had episodes crossing the street, riding my bike, one time in particular at dusk. Fortunately, I was aided by compassionate bystanders. I didn't realize the risks I was taking as I was young and invincible. In retrospect, I have been stunned to realize how often I have taken major risks. I have been alerted by my doc to take showers never baths, and I remember when I used to go to the beach or swimming at a pool and had no one with me.
I suppose I could worry that any time I spend on a cement grounding I am risking my life. But, I don't. I do take reasonable precautions.
I think it generally makes me less afraid. But, I have no idea how I would react if I were consciously in the throws of a life or death situation.

[notadmblnd]

53. When my son was 13 he pulled two younger boys who had fallen through the ice out of a pond.

He went out on the ice to get them out and he fell through too. When the police brought him home dripping wet he said, "don't be mad mom, it's not what you think". He thought I would be angry because the cops brought him home. Later he told me that when he fell through, at first he panicked. Then told me, "once I realized it wasn't over my head, I grabbed the boys and threw them back up on the ice."

He was recognized for his courage by the City, State and school district with award certificates. The parents of the two boys that had fallen through? Never heard a word from them.

Personally, I've mostly dealt with medical emergencies that had occurred with other people. The only other thing I can remember is jumping into a pool to help a swimmer who was overcome with exhaustion while in the deep end. But I've never been or felt in danger myself.

[smirkymonkey]

54. Yes, a few bad car accidents, caught in a rip tide, skiing accident where I plowed into

a snowbank and it felt like my neck was breaking in slow motion, other water and skiing accidents.

The one thing that stands out is that I was almost preternaturally calm in all these situations when I thought I was going to die. It was kind of like "well I guess this is where it ends". No emotion was involved. In the cases where I needed to act, I just did and in the others I was just fortunate.

[sarisataka]

55. Several times

Usually in war. I got the fun jobs, like "Go see what those guys (the enemy) are up to". Shelled by artillery while in a minefield (terribly unsporting), get in the middle of a tank battle on the wrong side (without my own tank).

As others have said, I get into a third person view also. Senses become crystal clear, I watch the other person, telling them what they should do; it's easy because everything is moving so slowly. No need to be to be afraid because it is not happening to me.

Later I will feel like I ran three marathons back to back and shake like a leaf but the situation is over by then.

[jaysunb]

56. Yes, actually, for 419 days in a row.....

in Vietnam, not to mention the "bad" old days back in the hood with the shooting, cutting and fighting.
And to your point, I've seen lots of instances of what some might refer to as cowardice, and I agree, that you never know how you or some one else make react under extreme duress.

But.....

this dude is a piece of shit.

[cliffordu]

57. Yep.

Shot at and mortar'd upon in the service,

Molested by a Grizzly bear in Banff while trying to sleep.

Hit by an auto while walking across the street

I talked a neighbor - a psychotic drug addict out of his 12 gauge shotgun. He claimed that he needed to kill the devils in his air conditioning vents...I was the building manager and the cops hadn't been called yet - it was just him and me and his devils...

Put out a fire set at that same apartment building by a DIFFERENT psychotic drug addict.

Stopped the bleeding in a guy who had been stabbed and told him jokes to calm him till the calvary arrived. Jokes just seemed like the thing to do.

In every event I was calm during the incident, able to react rationally and survive - the comments about slo-mo are true for me, too...but a couple of hours later or the next day I turned into a shaking slobbering mess.

Thinking too much about some of this stuff late at night can still give me a twitch....lol....Specially that fucking bear.

[weonlycut]

58. Yeah once

yes once when a truck was about to fall over the car i was driving but somehow the driver of the truck managed to save me.

[B Calm]

59. I drive a truck for a living, so

yes, everyday I face death!

[Le Taz Hot]

60. Yep, plenty of times.

I have chronic asthma, no insurance and no money which means I'm often without medication. I live in an area with the worst pollution (not of our making) in the U.S. so yes, I've woken up with literally a pinhole to breath through. Then, momentarily, the pinhole closes up. My only choice is to stay calm and hope the pinhole reopens. Obviously it has because somehow I'm still here.

Like a poster upthread, I've been shot at in the desert. Took a side dirt road and inadvertently ended up on somebody's property. At the time, gold prices were up and a lot of people who owned mines in the Mojave had them up and running. Wrong place, wrong time and I could little feel the air move when the shot went over my head. I think it took us about a second and a half to pack up and get the flock out of dodge.

In 1984 I was the victim of a violent crime and held captive for almost an hour with a razor blade at my throat by a person I'd known for 6 years. He was 6'4" and probably close to 300 lbs. I was 5'0" and weighed maybe 100 lbs. soaking wet. I obviously wasn't going to overpower him but I eventually talked my way out of it. Not before the "deed" was done, of course, but I kept thinking, "All I have to do is LIVE." I lived because I was calm and clear-headed.

The one thing I do know? I would have NEVER sacrificed a child to save my own ass.

[hobbit709]

61. More than once

Sometimes flight was the right option, sometimes freezing and thinking it out was the right one

[Edweird]

62. Yes.

[MadrasT]

63. Yes, three times.

And I completely panicked and acted irrationally 2 of the 3 times.

I hold no ill will toward the man who left the theater alone. Everyone reacts differently to stress and shock.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

65. Interesting thread.

The notion of time slowing slowing down, focus and/or acting reflexively seem to to be common themes. I can think of 2 examples where I've been in life or death situations, and 5 or 6 more that could have easily resulted in death or serious injury had one variable turned out differently.

I once escaped a 12 car pile up completely unscathed, even though I should have been the 5th car mangled in the middle of the pack. But instead of acting reflexively and slamming on my brakes as the other drivers did, I plotted a tricky and risky escape route. I decided in a split second to put the pedal to the floor an accelerate towards the crumpling cars in front of me, and at the last moment steer around them into the still moving (faster) adjacent lane of cars. (thank god those old V8's had lots of top end acceleration!, and also that I knew precisely what the machine was capable of.)

The other time a life or death situation presented itself, was far more surreal. My wife and I were informed that our 2 week old daughter who was at our local hospital had a massive seizure and was airlifted to another better equipped hospital. By the time we drove down there (in record speed) she had had 4 more seizures and had died and been revived each time. Moments after arriving it happened again. About a half hour later we sat down with the doctors, and I had to make the 'God decision'. I told them not to revive her next time it happened, which was only minutes later. No-one else was capable of making that decision, so it fell upon me and I still believe I acted with compassion and thoughtful reasoning despite the level of emotion.

As for this guy in Aurora. At the very least, I'd never want his advice or companionship in a crisis.

[Aviation Pro]

66. Yes....

n/t.

[Fozzledick]

68. I used to be a volunteer counselor for an all-night crisis hotline.

I successfully intervened in two suicide attempts. Both times involved making a snap decision in an emotionally charged situation and acting on it immediately.

Afterward I had to deal with people calling me a hero (as if I weren't already conceited enough), but I thought I hadn't done anything truly exceptional so much as just keeping my head and doing the obvious while everyone else was panicking.

Of course I went into these situations with training, authority, and an acceptance of responsibility to take charge. In normal life I seem more likely to freeze and observe in stunned disbelief when confronted with a sudden shock.