There was a dead man lying on the side of the freeway tonight

[sgorny]

He was just lying there, half in the fast lane, half across the fog line, all twisted like a corkscrew. I didn't know him, I don't know who hit him, I didn't actually see him get hit. The police had just arrived, and he was just laying there.

I'm kind of freaked out about it. I mean, it's not like I never saw a dead person before. Cadavers in school, bodies at the mortuary (I used to date a student mortician)... but not the immediately traumatically deceased.

The SO doesn't understand, thinks that it's more of a "huh" thing. But I'm freaked.

What do you think? Would it bother you a lot, a little, or not at all?

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Comments

[pbanda.livejournal.com]

Gosh, how awful. I honestly have no idea how I would react. I think both your reactions are valid. On the one hand, you didn't know him at all so the "huh" reaction makes sense. On the other hand, you can relate to him as a human being, neighbour, fellow pedestrian. I've never seen anything like that, but I did see a mangled, freshly hit by a car Canada goose on the road once. It was a busy road with pretty big fields nearby and we'd seen a bunch of geese wandering around while we drove to our destination. Then on the way back, one of the geese was dead and mangled in the road. That disturbed me. It was probably 2 years ago now and I still remember it. And it was just a goose! I'm not even a vegetarian! So, yeah, I'd probably be closer to the freaking out side of things like you, even though thinking about it hypothetically I kinda get the "huh" vibe like your SO.

[oasis6028.livejournal.com]

I remember an accident when I was a kid. It was right in front of our house. They put a couple of the injured people on our porch till help got there. Nobody died, but I still remember that event from so many years ago. It scared me mightily. I totally understand why you freaked out.

[chainer-morgana.livejournal.com]

Some years ago I saw a big accident happen in a tunnel just a few cars ahead of ours. Someone left the cars with their legs, someone didn't. Police and paramedics were there just after a few minutes and took people out. I remember a guy, he seemed young. He was still alive, they put him on the floor and tried to stabilize him. I remember the paramedics talking and yelling instruction, but it was too late and the guy died after ten minutes in front of us. I remember I was shocked and scared for days.
I hear of deathly accidents every day, I had saw bodies and people dying before, but to see it like that...it was shocking, even not knowing the guy at all, so I think your reaction is totally normal. And even the huh part is normal.

*hugs*

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I've seen cadavers and I've seen bodies on the side of the road: Not the same experience. A cadaver is something you are prepared to deal with for a long time before encountering in ("First we deal with dead frogs, mice, pigs, etc...then dead bodies."). Cadavers are, to some extent, objects. Dead bodies encountered at random in our life are people, not objects.

Freaking out is normal, but keep in mind that everyone dies eventually. It's a part of life, not something to bend your mind over too much.

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

much, it would bother me very much, he was someone, he belonged to others, hopefully, whose worlds just shifted to the worse even if they didn't know it yet. Yeah, it wold bother me much.