You only die once

Chapter 7 Fight or flight

Chapter 7

Fight or flight

Looks like I am running out of near-death encounters to relate. Six seems a lot for one person. I appear to be a magnet for personal disasters.

Well, there are a few more. Now relating them, I think many are hopefully counted as half, because if I were a cat, I would have used up all nine of my lives and more. 🤣

This particular incident happened a few years after returning to the city I was born in and working at my current practice.

As with many lunchtimes, I would walk out to the shops behind my workplace to eat. This particular day, I had gone for lunch with a sales representative who wanted to show me her new products. On the way back, we had to slip between the boom bar that barred the exit for cars unless they paid up. As we were walking between the bar and the car parked next to it, the car moved and started to reverse. I was walking in front. I heard the representative hitting the car with her hand, creating a noise. The car stopped reversing. An angry looking man rushed out of the driver's side shouting. She obviously shouted back. Next thing, he was reaching into the car and producing a box knife. My instinct was RUN.

I grabbed her arm and started running. She was slow. Oh boy. Slow. I ran the 100m dash in school. We were really slow. We had gone about maybe five metres and he was gaining on us. If my memory was correct, an elderly lady reached over from the passenger side trying to stop the man, thus slowing his initial pursuit.

In the corner of my eye, I could see him gaining on us. He was a stocky man with lots of hair, some beard, a potbelly, and a few tattoos on his arm and visible chest. He probably weighed 90 kilos and was 5 feet and 4 or 5 inches tall. His light-coloured shirt was undone on the top and bottom. Long black pants. He held a rather long and big box cutter knife with the blade fully exposed.

In an instant, I had to abandon 'RUN' and turned to face him. 'FIGHT' mode set in. I think I almost saw RED. Almost but not quite.

I had to push the girl aside. No way I can fight with one hand. Here I was, a doctor having to defend myself. Me, a bespectacled guy, weighing 60 kilos and measuring 5 feet 9 inches with little muscle. Madness. All I knew was I was not going to be stabbed or slashed in the back. Turning around and facing the danger, I had a better chance. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. I was ready to fight.

He shouted, "Why you hit my car?"

I shouted back, "Sure lah. You backed out and nearly hit us. You think I want to hit your car? You, you wanted to hit us."

And the rep kept saying and indicating, "He is a doctor. He is a doctor."

I really wanted her to be silent and not distract me. Associating me with the hospital may not be good. Lessen his fear of me as most doctors are not fighters. Heighten his anger if he was already angry leaving the hospital. Unlikely that a loud tap on his car would trigger a deadly response. (Most likely primed as I thought later.)

By then, the elderly lady had caught up and held him on one arm. For some reason, he calmed down. I can't remember if there were further words said.

He and his presumed mother walked away. Maybe he had bad news that morning. Maybe the bill from the hospital had put him in a bad mood.

That day, both of us could have been injured. One could have died and the other landed in jail.

A few minutes Iater, I was back in my clinic. My hands were tremoring. Not sure if from fear or just the adrenaline still rushing through me. As I was reflecting, a sense of fear did come over me. But somehow I was psyched to fight then and was still picturing how I would attack/defend.

Half an hour later, I was at the security desk going through the videos. Unfortunately, the incident occurred just out of the field of the camera. I wanted to see myself. Did I really face him fearlessly?

Madness. A loud tap on his car can trigger a deadly response. (Almost like road rage.) I could understand a bit. I do have rage or anger issues and if correctly triggered, all hell can break loose.

Just like we train attack animals or soldiers. We prime them ready to act and kill in an instant but expect them to be polite, follow SOP when there is no threat. What happens when a threat is perceived, whether real or not? Then, the beast is released and no longer chained?