Dave Pires

I got bucked by the highway on the way down from Whistler last night. My car was basically ripped into oncoming traffic, forcing me into multiple high-speed skids before I managed to scrape to a stop on top of a snowbank.

For what I’m guessing was about five seconds that suddenly began as I was staring those approaching headlights in the face, every single cell in my brain exploded into overdrive, and somehow I did exactly what I needed to do. Having my mind fire up all that unused capacity for the first time was an intense experience, and while my brain recovered from its ultimate solar flare, I was left with a lot to think about.

I thought about the possibility of tapping into that vast unused brain capacity through training, and whether that would be healthy, as well as the role of our egos in our day-to-day thoughts. Outside of sports, there aren’t many times when my brain will briefly deactivate its ego in order to react without thinking, and to have my full mind command my body directly was fortunate and fascinating. I can see why many people spend their lives working towards the elimination of ego. Without it there is a unique peace in which you often do exactly the right thing without thinking, which is something that many other people who have had near death experiences describe.

A champion driving in the opposite direction pulled over and taught me an unforgettable lesson in what it means to be a man. He took time out of his night to make sure we were alright, left his wife, young daughter and puppy safely off the side of the road, pulled us out of the ditch with a bit of rope and some elbow grease, and made sure everything was alright before being on his way.

What he did was the human thing to do, and these days I know there are not many people that would have done it. The pure good of his act was rare and left a lasting impression on me. If I’m in a position to help someone, anyone, I now can’t imagine not helping them. Simply doing the right thing might mean taking the hard road, but taking that hard road can mean the world to someone, and that’s worth it every time.

This entry was posted on February 22, 2009 at 3:55 am and is filed under Live, See. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.