Art Attack Central

Fixing stuff, myself included…


Death Defying Stunt

No, I did not turn myself into a human ice cube like what’s his name; however, it was a stellar performance of instinctual courage, or sheer stupidity.

What did you do?

On my way out of town yesterday, I noticed the little red needle of the gas gage was pointing to E. I pulled off Russell St. at the last available gas station, before the 95 Interstate and the BW Parkway. After paying the smiling middle easterner behind the bullet proof glass, and as I was inserting the nozzle into the opening, my mind wandered to thoughts of the serial sniper. While “I knew” he wasn’t out there, I nevertheless casually surveyed my surroundings as the gas flowed into the tank. At this point I noticed how dirty my car windows were, and spied one of those wiper sticks protruding from a shiny, black plastic water container strapped to an upright. All thoughts of the sniper had vanished. First I washed and wiped the outside of the windows, returning several times to refresh the water, but no this wasn’t enough. Then I went back and forth with wet paper towels cleaning the inside of the windows as well. It was while I was pulling away from the pump that thoughts of the sniper returned, and the words death defying stunt popped into my head as I accelerated into the flow of traffic.

Why is this significant?

I think the fear of “the sniper” is quite like the induced 9/11 fear many of us experienced after the terrorist attack last fall. It’s fear of our own mortality. Mortality is something you can live with, or live with it.

Huh?

There’s really no getting away from it. It’s two sides of the same coin so to speak. You are living with it on a daily basis, whether you think about it or not. And notice, I didn’t say “choose” to think about it. Although, I suppose one might choose. Most of the time the thoughts that are not consiously brought to mind come unbiden. Thoughts bubble up to the surface of awareness, some we dwell upon, some we don’t and some cause ripples on the surface.

Why do you always talk about death?

It’s not so much death I’m talking about as the fear of death. As I said there are two sides. Death is the inescapable coin; on one side is fear, and on the other side is…

“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.”

–Joan Borysenko

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“Designated driver, on the information highway.”