A little trauma can go a long way

October 6, 2015 I was, ironically, the lucky recipient of a Ford F250 Harley-Davidson Edition. Well, lucky may not be exactly the right word. When I say I was a recipient I mean that the driver delivered it to me while I was riding my 2003 Road King Classic 100 Year Anniversary Edition. He delivered it directly to the lane I was riding in. I was going somewhere around 65 MPH. He was going much slower I am assuming. I certainly cannot complain about the speed of delivery. All I saw was a flash of orange truck in front of me.

That's the preamble. Setting the stage for this posting, so to speak.

So, yes, I did, in fact, hit the truck. I will also agree with anyone that states that I was lucky...to have survived. Actually, I didn't really survive so much as a kind soul brought me back to life. No heartbeat, no breathing and, before you ask, no tunnels and no light.

I have had friends that survived terrible accidents and some that didn't and have passed so I can tell you that every single situation is different. I was resuscitated by a young lady that also happens to work at the hospital with the trauma ward/ICU I was delivered to. She also happens to be in school studying to be a Registered Nurse (RN).

I would consider this my miracle moment. Pretty impressive for someone without a particular belief system other than "common decency, morality, and some integrity should be much more common that it seems to be".

I'm going to turn on my cynicism for a moment here:

If everyone had a true sense of decency as well as a moral compass that points in the right direction all the time and a sense of honor and/or integrity our society would be a utopia. Unfortunately, there are very few individuals that would fit all the above all the time and an underwhelming number of people that could actually fit even two of them at any given time. Most people in highly populated areas are lucky to extend their observational skills beyond their immediate focus (monitoring their "smart" phones, getting to work, catching the bus, avoiding traffic, meeting friends, etc) to even notice when someone around them is in a state of distress they might be able to help with. In a lot of cases the self-absorbed individual is likely the cause of the distress because they are not willing or able to realize the impact they are having on others.

I have always enjoyed listening to people to experience tragedy and come out of it with a completely changed perspective on life but I don't think I ever really connected well with them. I could tell you that I had an epiphany and this was my come-to-God moment but that just isn't the case. Did I change? Certainly, but not in a religious way. I just realized that I really enjoy life and want to keep living it.

I have been lucky to live as long as I have regardless of this accident. I have never feared doing anything that looked like it might be fun or produce a thrill. I proudly served in the US Marine Corps, spent time doing extreme skiing and snowboarding, kayaked raging rivers (up to class 4), skydived, mountain climbed, and more. I never worried about the possibility of death and it never found me.

During more than 30 years of riding motorcycles on the streets of the U.S. I have been involved in three accidents. The two prior to this one could have been a lot worse than they were. I walked away from both of them although my first left the bike completely totaled and the second caused thousands of dollars of damage. Not to say that I didn't sustain some injury from both of them but I walked away.

When asked if I would still ride I honestly tell people "yes, I would and I may still sometime in the future". Let me state it like this: While it is true that riding a motorcycle is a dangerous mode of travel it is also one of the most satisfying ways of getting around quickly and still feeling like you are part of the world around you. It is satisfying to be able to look to the side and see the natural landscape around you without windows and doors separating me from it. It is also nice to disconnect from most everything (except music...never disconnect from music!).