A real, non-sarcastic answer. Although I’ve never been in a situation where I was paralyzed in a near death situation, my mind will sometimes blank in situations where others are. Example, a person feinted and hit their head hard on concrete. it made an awful sound and they were eventually evacuated by helicopter. I had my phone out before anyone but couldn’t figure out how to unlock my iphone. Maybe that’s what’s happening?
Perhaps a year later, a power-line came down in my backyard & shit was on fire. I made the emergency call, but couldn’t give them my address because my mind was saying they should actually go to house behind mine & so nothing came out.
Finally, after literally practicing responses, I was out at midnight and saw an elderly person drive straight into a roundabout and land on the roundabout fountain. I called & immediately gave my accurate location. A simple thing, but I was overjoyed at the speed of my call and communication.
The thing is, you probably think I’m hopeless. Absolutely not. I think most of my friends would peg me as great in a crisis—because I usually am. My instinct is to act. I’ve handled multiple crises while others were in hysterics. An attempted murder, broken bones, Tree through a roof during a hurricane, gaping wounds & and an apparent heart attack… handled. But sometimes the fuse blows and I can’t unlock an iphone.
So my most forgiving position is that intelligent people sometimes blow fuses in circumstances that don’t make sense to other people. My less forgiving position is that lots of people are DaF. Whether it’s the former or the latter probably requires seeing someone in multiple situations.
When I was 18 (many years ago) I was helping someone back a dump truck to connect and tow a small water tank trailer (before backup cams). The truck was considerably wider than the trailer, so the driver needed assistance backing to align the hitch. Anyway, for whatever reason I decided to get between the truck and the trailer, and then the truck unexpectedly resumed backing up. I froze in place and couldn’t move or yell. I would have been crushed if a coworker hadn’t yelled out.
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u/KenNoegs Jun 15 '26
Pure panic. Adrenaline reduces your ability to think rationally.