Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Daily Thanks - Day 19 - Rock of Death



Every day we have something to be thankful for. Today I am thankful that I am not pinned under a rock in the mountains.

This happened to a man some odd years ago and it was a story that sparked many conversations amongst my friends and me. Aron Ralston was alone and about 20 miles from any indication of human society when a boulder fell on his arm and trapped him. Jesus. I complain like a woman in labor when I get a splinter in my finger. I can't even imagine the anguish that would be endured when going through a physical and mental raping of this magnitude and I am beside myself in jubilance to not be experiencing it.

Some situations that may cause you to be pinned under a rock in the mountains may include: unsupervised mountain scaling, boulder juggling, building your own replica of Stonehenge, searching for fools gold, being a handsome archeology professor obsessed with ancient artifacts, playing an innocent game of "dodge the rocky avalanche", persistently trying to kill a road runner, etc.

There is a saying... "stuck between Scylla and Charybdis" which references the sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, from Greek mythology. The saying was used to imply an inescapable situation as Scylla and Charybdis were so close to each other that sailors could not pass between them without the inevitable wrath of these Sea Gangstaz. The saying somewhat evolved into what we know as "stuck between a rock and a hard place." Well, if there was ever a person who has experienced the true meaning of this saying... it is Aron Ralston who, in my eyes, won the unofficial "Man of the freakin century award" when he proceeded to saw his own arm off with a pocket knife and managed to escape the grasp of the boulder that trapped him. Well done, sir.

So let's all take a moment and say "Today I am thankful that I am not pinned under a rock in the mountains." Unless right now you ARE pinned under a rock in the mountains in which case you must say "ok. just like a ripping off a band-aid. a reeeaallly looong band-aid. gonna start sawing in 1........2....................................................................... ok. passed out there for a minute..... gonna start sawing in 1.....2............. ya know what......... someone will find me."

Thanks for listening. Check back for more things to be thankful for in days to come.

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