Clear and Present Danger

There is something about us humans, although we all fear danger (most of us at least) we are filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment when we go through a dangerous sitaution and come out unscathed.
There is nothing better than recalling various life and death situations at social gatherings, and the person with the bigger crash, or the biggest scar gets the the most attention.
This was the reason why I was slightly ticked off when I realised that the earthquake that hit the UK last Wednesday did not shake my building one bit. The next day at university I heard all these amazing stories about people waking up while their beds were moving, wardrobes flying open, clocks falling off walls...while me, I had nothing to tell, my night was totally uninterrupted, I was recieving texts messages and phone calls, and my reply was..I didn't feel anything. I was not the least bit pleased.
That aside, I have had my share of scary situations, I have said my last prayers on two occasions. Two frightening occassions. One of them occured last August while onboard a small propeller jet during a visit to Nigeria, the weather is notoriously bad during August, and propeller jets are notoriously fragile. We were about half-way into the flight, and light refreshments were served, I had a window seat, and my dad was seated to my right. I was admiring the Sun when the plane began to shake, I was slightly unnerved, but tried to keep my composure as I noticed no one seemed to take notice of this, it bothered me, and for the sake of masculinity I kept quiet, my dad who takes on average four flights a month kept smiling and saying that this type of turbulence was 'nothing', he told me stories of worse flights he had been on, with screaming people and the oxygen masks coming out of the ceiling compartments (things you only see in disaster movies and Discovery Channel) The stories of terrible turbulence seemed to calm my nerves a bit, and I continued eating my doughnut, while praying that we would land soon.
I think the Storm gods became aware of me calming down, and so increased the turbulence, the plane was now jerking, and people rushed to drink up their juices and wines. I could hear the whisper of prayers, this was bad, but it was to get a whole lot 'badder' My dad still had a smile on his face, I had a smile on my face as well, but "GOD PLEASE HELP ME!" was going through my mind, the smile on my dad's face was different, it was a smile of wierd excitement, like one would have on a roller-coaster ride. My dad was still joking, I was laughing, but I was not listening, my heart was racing, this was not the way I wanted to leave....SUDDENLY...the plane took a steep dive, I was convinced this was it, it had to be, red wine went off in the air and splashed on the overhead compartment. I began saying my last prayers, the emotions I could feel were more of anger than fear, yes I was afraid that we might crash and death might be slow, but I was angry at the tragic circumstances, my body may not be found, I will be reduced to a name on a list posted on an airport noticeboard.
The passengers had become vocal, prayers were uttered, Hail Marys were vehemntly recited, death was nigh.
After the plane steadied, I looked over to my dad, he still had a smile on his face, and was more concerned about the loss of his white wine than about the ordeal we just went through. I guess this was his unconventional way of calming everyone down, but what I wanted was assurance that I would not die. Nigeria's avaition record is not particularly clean, and I did not want to be a statistic.
My dad told me to take deep breaths, my upper body was still, but my legs were shaking like a fish out of water, I could actually hear my heart beating. The red wine began dripping on a gentleman seated in front, it was as if he was bleeding.
The whole plane was overcome with a kind of surreal calm, there was solidarity amongst all passengers as we prayed and hoped that we landed soon.
At last we were descending, a prayer was still on my lips....the runway came into view, a few hundred metres below, I was still praying, the pilot gave the announcement that we were about to land, I still wasn't content...not yet...until the plane came to a complete halt on the GROUND...intact.
We finally touched down and the passengers erupted in a cheer, there were handshakes and hugs, beaming smiles, and a few people still with a look of disbelief. I must have had a hybrid of joy and horror on my face, I was glad we had landed, but it was only when my feet felt the tarmac that my mind was completely at rest.
I had survived..and managed to keep my dignity by not reverting to frenzied supplications. A mild example of turbulence for some but bad enough for me.