I was just channel surfing and there is a program that shows, "The 20 Most Shocking" events. With the availability of cameras, why would anyone do anything stupid out in public? There was a bunch of stupid kids at a kiddy park and used a motor bike to spin one of the little merry go rounds. At 40 MPH the rider let go and how he did not break his neck is a miracle.
The thing that really worries me is the fact that in High School a friend of mine thought it was neat to use a cart ramp at a big box store to jump her motorcycle. She went faster and faster until she clipped the edge of the building with her head. It broke her neck and she had devastating head injuries. She was DOA at the hospital. I am sure that she did not foresee that turn of events. I am sure that I did some stupid things as a kid but I do try to be a lot more careful now.
Once upon a time, I had a 1961 Mini Minor and drove it as fast as it would go a lot. The good news is that it was a lot like a go cart and went faster around corners than it would go in a straight line. One sunny day, I was about half way to El Dorado, KS and grew tired of the main road. I found a gravel road and shot off on an adventure. After a mile or so at 45 MPH, I found myself headed to a train track. I didn't slow down and when I went airborne, the heavier engine in the front end dropped the nose like a brick. I slid that car on the front bumper several feet and luckily it then sat back down on the wheels. Had it hit harder, or had the bumper dug in, I would have rolled that little sucker right there. The car had already claimed one life and I was just short of number two.
I had a couple of friends that had pretty fast cars and we drove fast - a lot. One day when we were driving out in the country, we saw, way too late, that the road was about to end in a T intersection. My friend slid about the best he could and at the last minute saw an open gate into the field. We cleared that gate and it took another 50 yards or so to get the car stopped. The driver calmly drove back out of the gate and we went home. I am not sure if anyone else had to change their underwear or not.
One trip to Lake Toronto in Eastern Kansas, we spent the weekend drinking beer and having a good time. We started home about 5 PM on Sunday and I'm sure we didn't set any speed records, but I don't remember ever stopping anywhere. I know we had to go through several towns and when we pulled up in the yard at home I asked if anyone else remembered stopping at any of the traffic lights on the way home? No one could remember seeing any let along stopping at one.
In Vietnam, I had less than two weeks left in country. I was sitting in the bunker when an explosion hit the hillside. The Chief of Firing Battery had been outside and he ran in shouting that we were under a recoilless rifle rocket attack. I just slipped on my helmet and rushed outside. I ran to the nearest gun and took charge. We swung the gun towards the far hillside just as another rocket slammed into the ammo bunker ahead of us. I aimed down the barrel and the chief of section had his men put a round in and then a max charge (7) in the breech. We fired the first round about the time the third round impacted the parapet I was in. There had been a pile of wooden small pallets that had held two rounds and it blew that pile away. All of the shrapnel went out the back side of the parapet and we continued to fire back at that idiot that was shooting at us. When the firing stopped, the entire parapet around us was blown down and every one of the 10 men in there with me we wounded in some way. None fatally and I was not wounded at all. How that happened is just pure luck.
Let this be a warning to everyone that stupid can get you killed. be safe out there.
MUD
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