Reminder: Life is Short

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Last night I was in a car accident. It was Saturday night and I had gone out with my work team. I rarely go out to nightclubs, but since all my colleagues would be there I decided to join them in team bonding. The night went well, we danced, we laughed, and we only left at closing time. One of my colleagues was dropping four of us off, since she doesn't drink much and it would be safer. We left the club at around 4:30 am. The roads were empty. When we stopped at a red traffic light, a drunk driver hit us at the back. The force caused us to hit the next car that was waiting in the front of the line as well.

I'd had a few drinks and it was late past sleep time. I wasn't drunk but I was really relaxed and sleepy at the time of the accident. I didn't even realize what had happened. At first I wondered why our driver stopped so suddenly at the traffic light. It took me a few seconds to realize that the person sitting next to her was gasping for air and complaining that he couldn't breath. I heard the sound of car tires screaming, as the car that hit us began running backwards in an effort to escape. The person who at first couldn't breath suddenly reacted, opened the door and began chasing the car. He made the driver stop.

The police came, the insurance companies as well, and after all the hustle we all went to the hospital for checkups. The X-rays showed nothing broken and we all got away with small injuries such as stiff neck and (what seems to be) simple muscle contusions. I hit the pelvis bone at the back and slightly at the neck. If it was slightly higher on the spinal cord or stronger on the neck I could have serious problems including paralysis or death. I believe that the fact that my body was relaxed helped in avoiding many injuries.

What impressed me is that I didn't even realize what had happened until quite a few seconds later. Even when I got off the car, I had to see that the whole back of the car was destroyed to realize that I had been in a serious car crash and not just a forced stop. I don't recall the sound of the car hitting us. The brain acts tricky in similar situations.

I could have died and would never realize that I'm dying. I didn't feel fear, I didn't see life flashing before my eyes. I was just like "is something wrong?" I also didn't realize I had been injured and didn't feel any pain in until much later.

I can't stop thinking that today, out of pure random coincidence, I might have not been here writing this article. Today we live, tomorrow perhaps we don't. It's that simple. Someone might have called my parents this morning and destroyed their lives with a phone call. It's so shocking. I'm certainly more concerned with my loved ones' feelings than with myself existing in this case. I wouldn't have known.

Life is so short, and this was reminded to me today in a very practical way. In turn, I'm reminding it to you.