Have you ever been in a life or death situation?

[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.