Everyday we live, is another day we've survived, and death isn't the only thing we frequently sidestep.
I have lost track of the amount of times my heart has almost gotten me into trouble.
If I had been able to be with the people I thought I wanted in the past, I'd be in a mental ward right about now.
Dodging a bullet doesn't even begin to cover it.
Redditor Not-an-Ocelot wanted to hear about the times that have made people give some extra thanks by asking:
"What's the biggest bullet you've ever dodged?"
Life is a field of landmines and we're just whimsically shuffling along. We have to be really. There is no way to always be prepared for everything at every second.
That's why we should always do the simple part well... pay attention. Heed the red flags, throw down the white when necessary.
Allow some folks to explain.
Pay Attention
I was a teen driver not paying attention at an intersection at the crest of a hill with low visibility when the light turned green.
GiphyThe car behind me honked and just as I was about to go a truck barrelled through the red light on the perpendicular road at decidedly ludicrous speed. If I had been paying attention and gone when the light turned green, I very likely would have been T-boned to death. Closest call I've ever had.
A Passed Mandate
This one just materialized yesterday, actually.
About a year ago at my job I was offered to switch from my current team where I was established for a few years, had seniority, etc. for a new department that just started to kick it off, write processes, basically start from square 1.
A lot more work for the same amount of pay. I figured forget it and went.
Yesterday they announced that they just closed the physical HQ office for my old department, and everyone in that entire part of the company would have to either move to one of 14 random states (that we cant pick, its chosen basically by a roulette wheel for where you're going) to a local office, or they're going to be fired on June 22.
Thankfully since I'm part of the new department, I wasn't included in that mandate. Phew.
Too Many Idiots
I took my wife to an indoor shooting range in 2014. I had been at this range many times, and safety was always their top priority.
They made you sit through a safety video, take a quiz, and get a temporary certification before they allowed you onto the range.
Place got really busy and their safety policy became less stringent as time went on.
I noticed that the lane next to us had 3 people in it (already a violation).
Two big guys and one tiny woman probably her in 20's. They were handing her various firearms and laughing when she couldn't handle the recoil (big violation there, and incredibly irresponsible).
This girl was muzzle-sweeping everyone (another huge violation).
I got a bad feeling, told my wife to pack it up because we were leaving.
As soon as we started walking away, BANG, that girl had fired a round right where my wife was standing just a few seconds prior
I told the range officers that they needed to get in there and do something about those idiots, and that we weren't coming back
I have only been to a range a few times since that happened, and now I don't even go at all. Too many idiots.
buzz CRACK buzz...
I was out kayaking on a lake and several bullets whizzed by me. There was a distinct buzz CRACK buzz sound as it went by. I think some people were just out plinking in their back yard, adjacent to the lake, and didn't think a backstop was necessary.
This also happened to me a few weeks later when I was paddling on a small stream. Bullets whizzed by above the bank, just over my head.
I don't think anyone knew I was there either time. Regardless, when you go out and shoot stuff, make sure there's a backstop, ffs. Also, I don't know how big the bullets were, so I'm unsure which was the biggest bullet dodged.
Well that was a lot to digest and ponder. And also... I may need a Xanax.
But we can stay positive, everyone of those people lived to tell the tale.
Personally, I don't think there is a number high enough to count how many car accidents I and many others have avoided.
Thank you Jesus. Prayer seems to have gone a long way for these people.
Flight 103
I was booked on Pan Am flight 103 which went down over Locherbie Scotland. I didn't have a premonition or anything supernatural. I just decided to cancel my seat.
Didn't think anything of it until the plane went down and my mother had written down my flight plan and reminded me. This was back in the day when you could cancel without a penalty up to a couple of days in advance.
On any given day, we make decisions (for no concrete reason really, like... I just chose not to go that day) and we come to learn it was a good decision.
I try not to evaluate my decision because I don't want to affect my future decisions by second guessing or trying to 'work the odds'. This is only one example of times that I dodged a significant bullet. (I wrote a different post, but erased it before I hit save).
Zapped
I was subletting an apartment in college and got zapped by the electric stove.
Gave notice immediately and moved out with very clear reasons why I was moving out.
The building burnt a few weeks later.
GiphyKatrina
2005, my friend and I evacuated New Orleans 2 days before Hurricane Katrina and drove to Mississippi with the little money we had. We were trying to decided on where to stay for the night and it was between a mid range hotel or the really cheap motel.
Decided to spend a little more for the hotel. During the night the eye of the storm came through Mississippi and flattened the roof of the motel we decided against.
Delete Tinder
I matched with a guy on Tinder who played for the Atlanta Falcons.
He was really charming and seemed nice. He asked me to fly down to Atlantic City for Memorial Day weekend, said he would pay for everything (airfare, hotel, food, etc.) but I had never met him before and he refused to give me his phone number.
I was uncomfortable flying to meet a stranger so I told him no. Two weeks later he was on the news for kicking (and killing) his girlfriend's dog.
Life lesson #3005... try not to become an episode of Dateline NBC.
And being on local news isn't always fun either.
Granted disaster and horror is going to happen but let's do all the avoiding possible.
Being the one to walk away is always best—take it from experience.
A Yamaha Pancake
Physically? A bus. I grew up in Bermuda, and since it is such a small island cars are limited to one per family, and everyone drives mopeds. I was driving into town, and came up to a red light behind a bus.
As is tradition, I scooted around the bus to be in the front of the line of traffic. Literally 2 seconds later a second bus smashed into the back of the first bus at like 30 mph.
I would have been pancaked. Without question, 100% dead. I just sat on the side of the road for a bit and thought about my mortality.
My only other Bermuda bus based encounter was driving home from my first job in the rain. An oncoming bus in the opposite lane went through a massive puddle and sent what looked like a tidal wave of water right at me. It literally picked me and my little yamaha v 50 right up and swept us off the road onto some grass.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E
My ex.
He got engaged right after me and proceeded to cheat on her the entire time until she broke up with him.
GiphyOh man, after reading all of that it's a wonder anyone lives to be a senior citizen and now we've got Covid.
Be careful out there my peeps.
Stay vigilant and wash your hands.
Just don't wash them in a shady gas station restroom in darkly lit areas.
A little red flag to think about.
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Whenever we go out to eat, be it at a fine dining establishment or a quick service window, some of us tend to wonder what the journey was for the food that we are looking at on our plates or in our take-out bags.
Many have similar thoughts when buying frozen or pre-packaged dinners at supermarkets.
The answers aren't always readily available, often because the food service industry will go to great lengths to keep them under lock and key. Well aware, most of the time, that current or former employees will spill the beans at one point or another.
Redditor Lilyxrx was curious to hear some of the most well guarded secrets of the food industry, leading them to ask:
"What’s a secret the food industry don’t want you to know?"
Next Time Your Craving Bananas Foster...
"The 'natural flavors' are just big jugs of glycerin with hyper concentrated flavoring in it."
"Banana flavoring is fairly flammable."
"Source: Worked in food manufacturing."- irony_in_the_UK·
Cholesterol Be Darned!
"Chef here."
"It’s salt and fat."
"If you have a question about anything it’s salt and fat."- LongRest
For Efficiency's Sake...
"Olive Garden makes all their necessary pastas for the whole day from 8-10am every morning."
"Partially cooked."
"So when an order comes through, they grab a serving of the needed pasta style and flash cook them in hot water."
"Also, it’s just the brand, Barilla."- Deerhunter86
Justin Bieber Food GIFGiphyBefore You Pay The Extra Money...
"Beekeeper checking in."
"There is no such thing as organic honey."
"I do not treat my bees with chemicals, but I have no idea where they get their nectar."
"A bee can fly up to three miles from a hive to get nectar."
"It is virtually impossible to guarantee they have not gotten nectar from a chemically treated source."- toad__warrior·
If You Ever Wonder What Makes It Taste So Good...
"Unless it’s a health conscious food joint you’re eating at, the food we serve is designed for maximum taste."
"It’s either dense with fat and sugar, or fat and salt "
"E.G. Those mashed potatoes you like?"
"Made with cream, butter, and salt."
"The quiche?"
"Made on cream, not milk."
"Etc, etc."- petuniasweetpea
Before You Start Bragging...
"Dragon fruit isn’t an exotic Asian fruit."
"It’s a cactus fruit, and as such are native to the Americas and can even be grown in the US."- ferretmonkey
dragon fruit GIF by Feliks Tomasz KonczakowskiGiphyIn Case You're Wondering why That Taste Is So Familiar...
"A lot of the processed cheese and cream cheese is all the same recipe we just switch the labels and packaging for the different brands we run."
"Source: I work in a cheese factory in a company that services 75% of America's domestic market."- anon5678903276
Another Reason To Have No Guilt Over Take Out...
"Well."
"I work at Dominos, and we are kept afloat by the people who don't coupon and pay full menu price."
"You people are the unsung heroes of labor."- LoweeLL
Unlike Any Chocolate...
"When I worked at a mass production bakery the chocolate for the chocolate covered doughnuts came in giant frozen blocks of 4x4 pieces and contained no actual chocolate what so over."
"When unfrozen it was like some sort of nasty smelling paraffin wax that I would break up with a hammer and place into a melter that would then pour over the doughnuts."- gil_beard
Chocolate Dessert GIF by HuffPostGiphyWhat Do Orange Juice And Whiskey Have In Common?
"The reason orange juice tastes consistently the same year round, even though it's a crop harvested once a year, is because citrus oils and citrus flavor are added back to different batches and blended all together."
"Similar to how whiskey is blended from multiple barrels to make it consistent."
"The difference is that even though extra stuff is added back into the OJ, it doesn't need to be labeled because the flavors contain all ingredients from oranges (FTNF-from the named fruit) so the FDA doesn't mandate labeling additional ingredients."- PensiveDoughnut
Does That Explain Their Shape?
"Pringles (and baked Lays/similar) are made of rehydrated and compressed rejected/excess parts of potatoes that go into regular chips."
"I learned that from my dietician at work and thought that was odd."
"I still like them over regular chips."- bluesasaurusrex
A Secret Better Not Known...
"The 11 herbs and spices secret recipe."- NemoTheOneTrueGod
Food Pouring GIF by Great Big StoryGiphyJust Pop It In The Fryer...
"I was a young lad working at Church's Fried Chicken during the summer, many years ago."
"The owner refused to throw out chicken that had already gone bad; to the point where you'd gag if you smell them."
"Apparently if you batter them bad boys up and deep fry them, the rancid smell goes away."
"His customers never knew they were eating spoiled chicken."- Dirt_E_Harry·
Sweet... But Safe!
"The amount of sugar that goes into Costco bakery products is absurd, especially the apple pie."
"That being said; Costco does not f*ck around when it comes to food safety."
"Every area that is responsible for producing food is most likely cleaner than a white room for producing computer parts."
"There are virtually zero roaches, we found one in the bakery once and shut it down until the exterminator did his thing that very night."
"Someone returned a package of dinner rolls because their child had bit into one and a sharp piece of metal was in it, within less than 2 minutes every manager in the building was doing an investigation that led all the way up to the regional manager and his boss for several hours and determined that it had come off of a piece of machinery before it reached our location."
"We throw away rotisserie chickens if they have left (even for a few minutes) the shelf and someone tries to put it back."- Deathnachos
Costco GIF by hero0fwarGiphyWe'd like to think that everyone who works in the food industry shares the same high standards.
But, as in any industry, there are those out there who will cut corners for speedier results.
On the bright side, it does save you the trouble when deciding what cream cheese to buy...