No, not death itself, just the manner thereof. I've had numerous close encounters, most of them job-related.
You mentioned a bad experience as a roofer in another thread. I did some of that in my younger days. But the scariest experience I had working heights was with a bridge construction crew, contracted to build the concrete pillars for a bridge spanning a major river in my state. My boss singled me out one day, to guide 50ft steel pilings into the ground via a crane with an attached diesel hammer. I had to climb the boom of the crane to the top, straddle the piling with a simple aluminum stirrup with no additional safety harness, wait for the adjoining piling to be delivered to me by the crane, then align the grooves so that the new piling could be set in place and begin the process of driving that one 50 ft into the earth. Eventually, an oval hole was dug, creating the foundation for the pillar.
At the end of one workweek, my boss yelled up at me that the crane was stuck and I would have to find my own way down. I did. He later described my descent to the crew as, "like a monkey clawing steel all the way down." When I hit terra firma, my legs were shaking, I thought I might collapse, but didn't. To this day, I see that experience as, 'a peak of inner strength'.
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M1sterDoct0r (4423)
3 years ago
I genuinely don't even remember the roof incident THAT much. I was fixing the antenna(I did that A LOT back in the day), I slipped, rolled & I hit my head before falling into the ground. So I basically blacked out & woke up like a couple of hours later in the hospital.
I've had way scarier near death experiences. Like a time I was almost run over & mushed by a huge truck. My legs turn to jelly, couldn't even tell where I was.
Also, there was the time my stomach ulcer that'd been bothering me for years, just burst... like at 2am. I was literally shitting blood for like an hour. Afterwards, couldn't even stand up without my eyes going dark. I required 3 separate blood transfusions
It's moments like those that just make me appreciate life instead of fearing death
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BillySlater (4241)
3 years ago
Very true about tomorrow not being guaranteed, too many take it for granted. I don´t fear death after becoming born again. Fearing death though is completely normal if you are non-religious. The people that claim they don´t fear death and aren´t religious just put it in the back of their minds. If death seems close, I guarantee almost everyone fears it. Most people wouldn´t sell an eye for a $1M, so it goes to show that people value their lives, even if they claim not to.
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