There are people walking around today through no fault of their own. They owe their oblivious existence to blind luck, the intervention of a benevolent and capricious god, or the alignment of the stars. Oh sure, we would like to think that it was all due to the skill and dedication of selfless nurses, doctors and paramedics. But they aren't and it isn't.

I've never had to face the business end of a loaded handgun, but I'm told they all look like cannons when they're pointed at you. TJ glanced too long at somebody else's girlfriend and offense was taken. As occasionally happens, guns were involved. TJ took a gunshot to the face. Well, the mouth, really. You see, TJ did the natural thing when being shot at: he screamed. His wide open mouth was a target that couldn't be missed. The bullet grooved his tongue and, rather than ripping out the back of his throat, lodged in a neck bone. The neck bone (cervical spine, if you will) contains part of the spinal cord. Nerves come out from the cord through holes in the bones and give movement and feeling to various parts south. The slug missed everything vital. TJ should have been paralysed or dead. Instead, he was gratefully recounting his adventure. No arteries punctured, no nerves damaged, no throat ripped out, just a helluva headache.

Speaking of headaches, can you imagine the headache involved in getting shot in the cranium at close range? Me, neither. But Charles knows. He was walking down the street, minding his own business (aren't they always?). Somebody didn't particularly care for his business and came up behind him with a cheap handgun, stuck the barrel at the right side of his skull and pulled the trigger. The take-home here for any would-be assassins, is don't scrimp on ammo. Cheap bullets just aren't worth it. These were exceptionally cheap and the slug broke up on hitting bone. Instead of penetrating the skull and Charles' reverberating brainpan, they merely followed the path of least resistance under the skin and around to the back of the head. Charles and his (relatively) undamaged brain walked out.

Two proofs of the adage that it's better to be lucky than good.
8:34:10 AM    Comments?()