Have You Ever Cheated Death

Youngster

Youngster

Member
I there one certain incident in your life where you truly believe you cheated death?
There have been several close calls in my life. Here's one of them.
I was the passenger in the front seat of a car that was involved in an accident. We glanced off a car that turned in front of us, jumped a curb and headed straight for a utility pole. I was strapped into a seat belt and couldn't move out of the way. The car turned just far enough to sideswipe the pole taking the paint off the passenger door but not denting the car. This was one of those times in my life when I was reminded that I'm being looked after by something much bigger than me.
Have any of you had a close call with the grim reaper?
 

I was a passenger in a car driving down the freeway. All of a sudden an SUV comes at rolling over side to side. We had nowhere to escape and it hit the front of our car. The airbags deployed and we managed to escape with minor injuries.
 

Yes. I was waiting at a bus stop and as it was really hot out, I debated crossing the street to where there was another bus stop which was sheltered from the sun. It would have meant a longer wait for the bus, since it would have to complete its route, then pick me up on the return circuit. So I decided it was worth it to get out of the hot sun, and I crossed the street and sat down in the shade. I put on my earbuds and opened my book.
A horrific sound grabbed my attention, and I looked up to see that a car had gone out of control, ending up on the exact spot where I had been standing not more than three minutes ago.
 
I don't think one lives a full life without an example or eight (not nine yet) times cheating death
And there are some incidences in which we are likely not even aware of mysterious close proximity to deathly circumstances
Some might say they cheat death each time they venture down that 12ft wide asphalt @ 55 +/- mph ... and make it back home safe and sound
 
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At 11 I got blood poisoning from an infected wound I got in the school playground when the nuns would not give me time to wash it properly. In a few days my face and body started erupting in weeping sores and I got a fever too, so my day called the doctor and he came over and gave me a shot of penicillin which made me well in a hurry. Thank God for doctors making housecalls and antibiotics which saved my life.

At 15 I was traveling with my family to northern New England in a snow storm for a relative's funeral. The snow began to fall very heavily but dad wanted to make time so he kept driving until a passing truck sprayed our front windshield completely white with slushy snow and we spun off the road but hit a six foot guardrail. We were lucky it was there because the drop off the road at that point was sharp and steep.

Those are the only two occasions when I felt close to death. It's been enough.
 
As a combat veteran of the Vietnam war, who spent most of my time out in the boonies supporting the infantry with artillery support, I have been thankful to not be on the KIA list. I won't say I cheated death, I'm a truly believe the grim reaper is a mighty bad dude.
 
Naturally said:
I don't think one lives a full life without an example of eight (not nine yet) times cheating death
And there are some incidences in which we are likely not even aware of mysterious close proximity to deathly circumstances
Some might say they cheat death each time they venture down that 12ft wide asphalt @ 55 +/- mph ... and make it back home safe and sound
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I would agree we may be cheating death all day every day, but surely there are times in your life when you knew you had dodged a bullet.
 
Youngster said:
I would agree we may be cheating death all day every day, but surely there are times in your life when you knew you had dodged a bullet.
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Perhaps the most blatant was an automobile accident where the car left the road flipping end to end several times and rolling several times. The only piece of sheetmetal that wasn't bent (too bad) was the trunk lid. The whole body of the car was twisted on the frame. The roof of the car was pushed down flat with the top of the door. Hitting a tree finally stopped the vehicle and threw me out ( a small space where the passenger window had been) because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Ripped the back of my shirt off but not a scratch on my back.

The only injuries I had was a cut below my ear requiring three stitches and as I was thrown from the car, picked up a mighty thorn from a bush. The thorn went all the way through the top of my ear.

Was on my way to work one morning in 1976. Looked down to pick out another 8-track and looked up to find I'll drifted into the lane of oncoming traffic. I suddenly over reacted, jerking the steering wheel that caused the car to spin out.

When I found myself going down the highway BACKWARDS at about 60 some plus mph, I KNEW I'd lost all control over the vehicle and my racing mind wondered how I might protect myself from the impending wreck.

I'd just read Carlos Castaneda's " The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge" and my thought was to face "this" like a warrior. I completely let go of the steering wheel and relaxed to "enjoy" the ride. I lay flat across the front seat and grabbed the outside edge of the passenger seat tightly.

What ever I did and for whatever reason worked out in light of the fact that if I'd been wearing my seatbelt, I'd have been sitting upright when the top of the car was crushed flat on the driver's side. Would have no doubt been very badly injured or maybe even killed.

The guy I almost had a head-on collision with when I drifted into his lane, had watched the entire wreck unfold in his rear view mirror. It was SPECTACULAR !!! He turned around to go back and check on me after he saw me climb up out of a ditch and to the side of the road. When he stopped and offered me a ride, he said he wasn't going to turn around because he didn't want to see the carnage of a dead guy but turned around when he saw me walking away from the wreck. He gave me a ride to my parents house nearby.

There have been other events, but that was arguably the most blatant example of "cheating death".

EDIT: When I finally stood up from the wreck on the edge of a cow pasture as cows grazed and chewed their cud without a care in the world, the sun was NEVER brighter or day more BEAUTIFUL !!!
 
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Thirty years ago I was driving home from work on a four-lane. There was a small truck driving up the highway in the wrong direction and by the time I realized he was coming at me, it was too late to react. There was a car on my right so I just froze and stayed in my lane. He drove off the side of the road and went around me, kept on driving, and caused an accident further up the road. He'd had a diabetic episode and was disoriented. I remember reading about the crash in the newspaper the next day, but, oddly, I can't remember if he survived.
 
I was shot in the left shoulder while in Vietnam from a sniper in a tree.

And once on the job, but that was only a graze on the left side of my neck. It only bled a lot. Luckily, I was less than 3 miles from the hospital, so they were able to stop the bleeding pretty quickly.
 
Once, as a teenager. Our church group had hiked up Blood Mountain in North, GA. Its shape is such that it is a pretty steep climb up one side and then a long gentle incline down the other. We went in in the afternoon and climbed/hiked up the steep side. We were spending the night at the shelter area on the top and then walking down all the next day. There were some pretty sharp cliff-style drop-offs around the shelter area. Not hundreds of feet, but definitely serious drops.

That evening, at the top, we started a game of fox and hounds. It's a glorified tag game where one person starts as the hound and everyone else are foxes. The hound catches a fox, then that fox also becomes a hound - continue until only one fox remains. This, of course, involves a lot of running and chasing etc. Dusk has fallen and seeing is less than ideal. While being chased as a fox, I spotted a large rock to hide behind. Without thinking, I vaulted onto the rock, using a sapling for leverage, and leaped...

While in the air it dawned on me that I had no idea what was on the other side! Fortunately, it was just a big rock on normal ground. I still think about that from time to time.
 
A long time ago I was talking on a payphone outside of a convience store. An old man pulled into a parking space with a really big car, just a few feet away, pointing directly at me and stepped on the gas, instead of the break.

Thankfully, there was a cement post.

Not quite cheating death, but definitely a wake up call.
 
Enough times to figure that God must have a reason for keeping me around.
A few examples off the top of my head..................

Had the enemy try to cut my throat in Nam. (sticking my hand up saved me, but, cost me some use of my fingers)
Had a B-40 rocket land next to a small group of us while sitting at a fire base. (fortunately a dud)
Blew up and burned in a gasoline fire. (2nd and 3rd degree 60% of my body) Clinically died 3 times in intensive care.
Wrecked a 57 T-bird. (skid 560 ft. hit a bridge, flipped over it and landed upside down embedded in a barn).
Was stabbed in the back for no apparent reason by an illegal in El Centro Ca.
flipped a 57 chevy and wrapped it around an elm tree.
 
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