chaotic mortal

A Little Bit Too Sharp

May 15th, 2008. Published under Philosophy, True Life. No Comments.

My mom has a good friend who is a doctor. During one of her checkups, he told her a story. It happened when he was still in China, when he was young.

A few people had been riding in the back of a truck because they couldn’t afford taking a bus to go to the city, and the young-Doctor was one of them.

The truck driver, trying to be nice, gave them a ride. They sat in the back of the truck, and soon all of the other friends going with the doctor fell asleep. Only the doctor was awake.

On the way out of the mountains where they lived, there was a bridge. The road curved like a ‘S’ and then went into the bridge. The driver turned a little bit left, and then he realized he had turned too much.

He turned to the right again, but it was too late. The truck rammed straight into the border, and the truck lurched as it stopped.

The doctor, being quick-witted, immediately jumped out, fearing the truck would roll into the river below them. He was scared and eventually had some stitches, but other than that, he was all right.

The same couldn’t be said for the bus driver. He had flown through the windshield and into the small river.

The other people on the truck, however, had just woken up, and just realized that the truck had abruptly stopped. “How strange,” they commented. “Why did the truck stop?”

And then they saw the young-doctor on the ground, scratches and all. And then they looked forward and saw a big hole in the windshield. And then they saw a wet truck-driver climbing out of the river.

In truth, maybe what saved them all was the roadside bumper and the bumper on the car, which were at the same height. The driver survived the incident.

Maybe falling asleep once in a while is better. The people sleeping on top had no injuries what-so-ever. The doctor, on the other hand, was so quick-witted he hurt himself!

(NOTE: You should always jump out when you feel you need to.)