We all have certain fears, things that we think about and immediately cringe. My worst fear varies from time to time, losing my child or someone I care deeply about or finding myself in the ocean surrounded by Great Whites but there is a certain fear that is always on my list, whether first or last, it always sends a shiver down my spine. Falling out of a plane or a building, it doesn't really matter, it's the fact that when I hit the ground, I go splat or worse, have every bone in my body crushed and I survive in complete and utter agony.
I read a story this morning about a skydiver that fell 10 000 feet when his parachute failed to open and miraculously survived, his fall was broken by a hangar's roof and he suffered only minor injuries. He clearly has someone watching over him, friends in high places and all that. I doubt any of us would be that lucky, or that's what I initially thought. Apparently this kind of thing happens more often than I realized.
One case that caught my attention was a flight attendant, Vesna Vulovic, that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records when she was working on plane that exploded. She fell 33 000 feet and survived! She was barely alive, she suffered two broken legs, a broken vertebrae and a fractured skull. Now that's where my fear comes in....I can only imagine what pain that poor woman went through but to survive something like that is truly unbelievable.
I think we underestimate how resilient we really can be. Stories of miraculous survivals are a dime a dozen and that should be telling us something. The next time life gets you down, remember the fact that there are people out there that have stared death in the face and given him a slap, so be grateful for the problems you have, it could be a hell of a lot worse.
