Near Death Experiences.  

I am sure many of us just missed death by inches or by minutes or by sheer luck. Some of the situations we found ourselves in were self inflicted while others were just in the wrong place or in the wrong car or whatever. I can recall three self inflicted cases. As a young boy, I was always curious about a disused well behind my house. One day, just after a heavy downpour, I was in the backyard and curiosity got the better of me. I moseyed to the disused well and looked down from the edge. There were tiny creatures swimming in the well. I thought they were fishes (They were actually tadpoles!)and so I ran back to the home to get a bottle to collect the 'fishes'. However, as I got near the edge of the well, it caved in and I was in the well, struggling to get out of the water. I must have drank plenty of well water before I managed to get a toe-hold on the well's side and grabbed the grasses to pull myself out. Fear was on my face. I could have drowned. I sat in the garden for at least one hour or so trying to recompose myself. Truly frightening. The second incident-again I was behind my garden. There was a rambutan tree there. There were not much fruits left on the tree as the season was ending but I spotted a few leftover fruits on the top of the tree. An unthinking boy then, I climbed onto the tree, across the firm branches and wondered onto the smaller greener branches. I then grabbed at the remaining reddening fruits only to hear the branch snapped below me and then down I fell. Thank God, my fall was broken by a nestling of stronger branches and it held me. If I have been heavier, I could have fractured some bones and could have snapped my neck and have gone to the other world. The third incident was again a water-based one. I waded up-river to catch prawns. Armed with a woven bamboo bag, I will pushed the bag below the riverine plants at the bank's edge and see whether I have caught anything. Then I soon reached a place where the dam allows water to flow out. There were rock outcrops and I felt I need a good swim. I leaped from a rock into the greenish blue water without thinking. My face struck something. It was a rusty square tin can. Blood oozed out from my cheek just about where the nose is.In fear, I went home. A bluish bruise appeared and I had to tell a white lie to my parents that I knocked onto a low tree branch in the rubber estate. I was very fearful of developing lockjaw then but God was on my side and the episode passed on in my life. The final episode to relate. Half my family were traveling to Bahau to meet up with my dad who was transferred there. We got an Indian driver to drive the car. I do not believe he was drunk but almost reaching Bahau, we came upon a windy road. All of a sudden, the car skidded and started spinning and finally, it stopped on a ledge of a cliff. Slowly and gingerly,we got out. I could see the deep yawning valley down below. A car wheel was punctured by the top portion of a BIC pen! Imagine of all things! If the car has gone into the valley half my family would have perished either to Heaven or to Hell. So if you have any near-death experiences, do particpate here. Thanks in advance.