"...We need to laugh, so as not to feel the hurt..."

That is exactly how/why highway cops, and others who are around the dead and injured a lot, tend to develop what "outsiders" consider to be a very sick sense of humor. You have to, or it can eat you up...

Amen OBG!!!!

Yes - I'm not saying what he did was abnormal - in fact, what I was trying to say is "There but for the Grace of God" - I did a lot of incredibly stupid things, and only have 2 missing teeth and a few scars to show for it (a guy cable snapped - luckly not under too much tension, or it would have taken my head off)

It seems to me that folks in "heavy construction" often take calculated risks - that when things go wrong, you die. I know I did, and got lucky that very little ever went wrong

Humor in hazardous situations when confronting mortality is a common reaction to deflect our thoughts from what we all know about our own existence: no one gets out alive. Pretty much a maximum stressor.

Hopefully folks who deal with such trauma are supported by organizations that have experts help deal with this stress and have created a culture that honors those who deal straightforwardly with the genuine and pretty much universal need for help dealing with such stuff. Humor, self-medication, etc. only seem to work - for a while.

Post traumatic stress syndrome is no joke.

From a survival perspective I think this highlights two important lessons:

You have to take risks and, at some level, laugh at death and danger. Failing to take risks can just as easily get you killed as not. The key is to make intelligent choices as to what risks you take on and which ones you avoid. And to make the choices consciously and in a well considered manner. I suspect this unfortunate fellow was tired or worried or otherwise operating on autopilot. He didn't consciously take on the risk.

In fact the warning likely distracted him from the actual risk. To him it was likely an insult to his autonomy and competence. Distracting him from the serious physical danger by concerning him with his social standing.

'Who the hell does that guy warning me think he is. I've been driving all these long years and unloaded more pipe than he has ever see ... '


The second lesson is that nobody is special. You have to learn from those who make mistakes and realize your own vulnerability and understand it can happen to you. Your not perfect. You can bleed and die.

< Insert appropriate quote from "The Merchant of Venice" here >

Unless one can see themself in others it is difficult to learn from their mistakes.

Empathy, your ability to see yourself in others, and ability to stay alert and consciously take calculated risks are both survival skills. Each in its place.