Hope
This morning, on the bus into work, I overheard a man calling everyone he knew on his cell phone to inform them that four people had died in a fire in a building that he had moved out of "less than a month ago." Strangely, this gave me hope. He was very specfic in his details: three women and one man had died in the fire. Although he kept saying how "sad" the news was, you could tell he was also very excited to be able to share this story with anyone who would listen (I'm sure that if he didn't have a cell phone he would have turned to me, a complete stranger, and filled me in on his brush with death). As it turns out, he had been badly misinformed. There had indeed been a fire, but no one had died (one man, the only person in the building at the time, is in critical condition). Strangely, this left me feeling less than hopeful.
posted by BayonneMike at 7:36 AM
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hmm...So the injured man was found right near the front door, alive with second (not 3rd) degree burns on a relatively small area of his body, but his condition critical...sad. Had the story of the 3 deaths been true, at least no one would still be suffering, except the loved ones.
Survivor Story: I met a man (I'll call him Andre) yesterday, who was also a survivor of a house fire which occured in
'82. He had had 3 siblngs, now deceased, including a brother, who died in that same house fire. That brother had Cerebral Palsy and had made it out of the fire, but ran back in to find thier mother, who was already out of the house. Andre had survived by jumping out a window, but sustained 3rd degree burns from the waist up. Thankfully, his face and neck healed completely without scarring, but his arms, hands and chest are scarred. He said he just attended his 30th HS reunion and didn't recognize most of his classmates. OK, so Andre was also born with cerebral palsy, but was educated and had managed to work and live a fairly normal life until suffering an injury when struck in the head by a case of Snapple, which fell off a shelf at work. He healed from the concussion, but a subsequent CT scan revealed a genetic malformation of his blood vessels in his head, which, if left untreated would eventually, most likely lead to death or stroke. He opted to have a radiation treatment to fix the problem and was doing fine but developed seizures 3 years later, following the tragic death of the second brother. In the meantime he had also lost his sister, father and grandmother. So...here's Andre counting his blessings. He's alive, with all of his marbles intact. Ambulatory with an occasional fall, stable on meds, living independantly, continent of bowel and bladder, still driving, and in love, but instructed by his MD to remain unemployed for life. Still, the guy is full of hope, a survivor who belts out Gospel with raw emotion of... Barry White and Eddie Hendricks in 3 church choirs. 'Disabled' ain't all that bad. It pays the bills, frees up his time, right? Besides, there's always HOPE. Chin up, Bucky.
I long for the day when I can rejoice in the fact that I'm continent of bowel and bladder and nothing else, G. The simple life. Life boiled down to the essentials. That is my dream.
Start saving for a trailer home, Mike. They build em nice now, with fireplaces, I heard. Everything is on 1 floor which makes that occasional sprint to the bathroom much safer. To the simple life. Ah!
This phenomenom must have a name, the desire to identify with a group or event of which one is not a part, like the phony vet who joins the VFW. How about Minor Munchausen Syndrome?
"This morning, on the bus into work..." was already the saddest thing I read today.
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