That's so funny -- I can't remember now what brought it up (probably a movie), but I was wondering that very thing about myself very recently. Do I just stand there? Do I react? And I didn't really come to a conclusion, other than that I think I am a combo-type of reactor.
I haven't had any life threatening emergencies that I could do anything other than watch myself in -- of the 2 bad car accidents I've been in one was on ice, and I tried (and failed) to steer out of, the other was the other driver's fault and I tried (and failed) to get away from her.
I've had weird emergencies that mostly involved flooding -- many years ago I lived with a roommate who had a massively huge fishtank, and one morning it sprung a leak while we were asleep. I finally heard it and ran in to tell my roommate about it, then ran around unplugging things that were plugged in (I was imagining electrocution). Don't think that was a great response, as his response was to move the fish (gasping along in about 2 inches of water) to another tank first. A much better response, I'm thinking. At least for the fish.
I've had flooding now in two different apartments due to storms, and mostly I called my landlords to deal with it. Then moved stuff out of the way. And sort of wrung my hands helplessly.
My mom fell in our house a few months ago and called me to come and get her up off the floor. I drove all the way home from work, couldn't lift her up, wanted to call an ambulance, but then she got herself up and I took her and her broken shoulder to the ER. Best action: probably should have called the ambulance from work. In fairness, I suggested that to her but she wanted none of it.
Finally, the other day from my window I saw my landlord's 2 year old kid on his little tricycle pelting down our slanty driveway toward the busy street in front of my house and I was out the door and down the stairs before I had time to think about it -- only then did I realize he was turning around and heading back up, completely in control. But I think I probably should have just called out to his father, who was much closer (but had his back turned).
So I guess I spring into action, but it isn't necessarily the right action! I'd probably be leaping into the waters from the Titanic instead of getting into a lifeboat. But I might call the steward first and point out the problem. I'm all helpful like that.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2006-08-01 04:43 am (UTC)I haven't had any life threatening emergencies that I could do anything other than watch myself in -- of the 2 bad car accidents I've been in one was on ice, and I tried (and failed) to steer out of, the other was the other driver's fault and I tried (and failed) to get away from her.
I've had weird emergencies that mostly involved flooding -- many years ago I lived with a roommate who had a massively huge fishtank, and one morning it sprung a leak while we were asleep. I finally heard it and ran in to tell my roommate about it, then ran around unplugging things that were plugged in (I was imagining electrocution). Don't think that was a great response, as his response was to move the fish (gasping along in about 2 inches of water) to another tank first. A much better response, I'm thinking. At least for the fish.
I've had flooding now in two different apartments due to storms, and mostly I called my landlords to deal with it. Then moved stuff out of the way. And sort of wrung my hands helplessly.
My mom fell in our house a few months ago and called me to come and get her up off the floor. I drove all the way home from work, couldn't lift her up, wanted to call an ambulance, but then she got herself up and I took her and her broken shoulder to the ER. Best action: probably should have called the ambulance from work. In fairness, I suggested that to her but she wanted none of it.
Finally, the other day from my window I saw my landlord's 2 year old kid on his little tricycle pelting down our slanty driveway toward the busy street in front of my house and I was out the door and down the stairs before I had time to think about it -- only then did I realize he was turning around and heading back up, completely in control. But I think I probably should have just called out to his father, who was much closer (but had his back turned).
So I guess I spring into action, but it isn't necessarily the right action! I'd probably be leaping into the waters from the Titanic instead of getting into a lifeboat. But I might call the steward first and point out the problem. I'm all helpful like that.