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Gratitude ~ The Thread

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ScottPerry--sp--not-xscn

Patron with Honors
Re: Gratitude ~ Even for the difficulties of the cult-years

I once was a member of the Guru cult of Prem Rawat, so I do know a little of what you folks have been through here, though my old group may not have been quite as difficult as yours. I now view my stint with the Rawat group as a sort of a time of emotional and spiritual maturation for me. During those years, I believe that in some ways I plowed the field of learning in my mind, so that eventually the fruit of a good understanding of what it really meant to "think on my own" and to "stand up on my own two feet" might grow in that field. In the years after I left, I believe that this fruit of understanding did grow, and I eventually did learn to do these things, perhaps even better than many who never fell for the "hook" of a cult. While I feel truly sorry for those I left behind when I left, and I even feel sorry for my old Guru who now has grown so fat he looks like a Sumo-wrestler,:eyeroll: I still do not look back with any real regret. How about you folks?

Scott
 

lotus

stubborn rebel sheep!
hey ScottPerry

Thanks for this nice thoughtful post!

Welcome on this board!

I also think sufferings and mistakes are an occasion to learn and to grow...otherwise, to make sens of it :)
Nice way to overcome some more difficult path!

Much ex-$cientologists, some who suffered a great amount, succeded in transforming the cult suffering into maturity, open mind to others, and gratefulness.

Looking forward to read you!.
 
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ScottPerry--sp--not-xscn

Patron with Honors
Re: Gratitude ~ Fun now

Some say, "No pain, no gain." I say, "I'm through with pain, how about some fun now?" Actually, I do believe that by letting go of whatever resentments I may have had with whomever in my past, it does lessen the pain by far, and frees me up for a little more fun! That goes for my cult years, and for my current situation as well. Life is too short to be resentful, angry or sad. It's fun-time now! I love your quote about being a child Lotus, and thanks for the welcoming post.

Scott
 

Pheryn

Patron with Honors
I think this is the first time I'm posting in this thread and boy do I have a doozy to start off with!

My family is neither religious or particularly spiritual, but, blessings from somewhere were surely shining down on us yesterday and I am thankful to whatever/whoever made it possible. You see, my big brother --who I'm very close with, is an industrial welder. This is a profession that has kept us up nights worried about him as its very dangerous and there are always horrendous accidents/incidents. My brother has always been very lucky and never suffered any serious injury. Few minor burns here and there, which is just par for the course. Yesterday, however, our worst fears were realized.

Late afternoon (just as his shift was to be ending) we received a phone call that simply said he'd been hurt, there was a lot of blood, and he'd been taken to the hospital. This is ALL they told us. I just have to stop and wonder how a person could make such a phone call. I know they probably didn't have all of the information, but, to tell us something so vague and awful was just heart wrenching --and worse, to not even tell us what hospital he'd been taken to. Some of the most dreadful few hours of my life as we called everyone we knew to call and desperately tried to get some information on his condition. I should mention, he only works about 30 minutes from our home, so it's not like he was out of state and we couldn't get to him or something. Finally someone got back to us explaining that he was 'okay' and all they knew is that the accident involved a grinder. Honestly, this didn't really help much. A few more hours of worrying and phone tag and we were able to speak with my brother. 'I'm okay, it didn't hurt. Don't worry, I'll be home soon' is what he said. We relaxed abit, but, were honestly still very on edge. By all accounts something very serious had happened and he just didn't sound right. Sure enough, he walked through the door another hour or so later. His left arm heavily bandaged and his shirt torn to shreds.

Apparently, he had been standing with his boss while smoothing the edges of some metal he was working with when the grinder 'bucked'. The force of the buck forced it into his stomach and his shirt got caught in it. My brother says he didnt feel any pain, just the impact and he frantically tried to free his shirt/himself ; which he did. He lifted up his shirt and was relieved to find just some minor scrapes, however, his boss was white as a ghost and on the verge of passing out. This is when my brother noticed all the blood coming from his arm. I will try not to be too graphic, but, the grinder essentially went through his forearm about half-way. It cut through the muscle, tendons, and just BARELY missed an artery. Thankfully, the tendons were not severed and the cut was clean, so the doctor says it should heal up just fine. He has full range of motion and sensation--much to his dismay, I might add. Amusingly enough, the doctor was actually concerned she wouldn't be able to line up his tattoo again. My brother figures thats the least of his problems and kindly asked she just put his arm back together. xD

So today, we are happy. We are SO HAPPY that my brother is okay. He's alive, healthy, and still has all of his limbs. We know that this exact type of accident doesn't always have such good results and we are so thankful it turned out the way it did. He even went to work today. I suppose nearly losing your life or arm/hand is no reason to call in sick, the man is unstoppable and a huge pain in the ass. But, damn glad to still have him!
 

JustSheila

Crusader
Wow, Pheryn. Thanks for posting that.

How stressful waiting for the news and what a close call.

What a miraculous ending. Hugs to you and your family. :bighug:
 

Pheryn

Patron with Honors
Wow, Pheryn. Thanks for posting that.

How stressful waiting for the news and what a close call.

What a miraculous ending. Hugs to you and your family. :bighug:

Thank you, Sheila! :bighug:

Honestly, no words to describe how awful and wonderful yesterday was. We're all just SO THANKFUL that if it had to happen, it happened exactly as it did. We actually knew someone who died from the injuries they suffered in a very similar accident. I still wouldn't mind giving the person who first called us a good smack, but, I'm just so happy he's alright and it worked out. But seriously, that was like the worst possible way to inform us.
 

JustSheila

Crusader
Yeh, I agree - it was the worst. Maybe the person on the phone was too shocked to think straight, either though.

We've all had our share of real bad news on the phone. You didn't need the shock.

You're probably having a bit of a WTF about your brother going straight back to work, but on the other hand, he's here and healthy and you probably won't even get the hugging and I love you's out of your system for a very long time.

I'm so glad he's whole and well. Very happy for him, for you and your whole family. x x x o o o

Sheila
 

Pheryn

Patron with Honors
Yeh, I agree - it was the worst. Maybe the person on the phone was too shocked to think straight, either though.

We've all had our share of real bad news on the phone. You didn't need the shock.

You're probably having a bit of a WTF about your brother going straight back to work, but on the other hand, he's here and healthy and you probably won't even get the hugging and I love you's out of your system for a very long time.

I'm so glad he's whole and well. Very happy for him, for you and your whole family. x x x o o o

Sheila
I think you're right. We asked my brother if anyone other than his boss was in the shop with him at the time and he said no. The guys who would normally have been in there had gone and were working on something in another area. The boss quickly ushered him out to try and rinse the wound and care for it as best as he could while calling 911 and all that. So, his co-workers weren't even aware anything had happened until they re-entered the shop and found it empty with just a pool of blood. It all just happened so fast. The shock of it all is obviously still very fresh and I don't think any of us have fully processed what happened. I think my brother went in today to have that normalcy and also, I think he wanted to show his co-workers that he was alright. They had even less information than we did. I can't imagine the scene they must have walked into and then had to clean up, not knowing what happened to him or if he was even alive. These kinds of things just really scramble the brain.

I don't want to sound pretentious or cliche, but, seriously...hug your loved ones extra hard! Amazing how quickly things can happen.
 

JustSheila

Crusader
You're brother sounds like a sweetheart - concerned about others' feelings and reactions.

Like you.

What a beautiful family you have. Both of you have a lot of heart.

Sometimes it's sort of good to be scared - so we really appreciate what we have while we still have it, ay?

Life is too, too short.
 

Pheryn

Patron with Honors
You're brother sounds like a sweetheart - concerned about others' feelings and reactions.

Like you.

What a beautiful family you have. Both of you have a lot of heart.

Sometimes it's sort of good to be scared - so we really appreciate what we have while we still have it, ay?

Life is too, too short.

Thank you for your kind words, Sheila. You're a real sweetheart! :biglove:

So true, though. I think it's just human nature to get caught up in unimportant things and take things for granted and sometimes you need a swift kick to the rear-end to really remind you of what matters most and how fragile it all can be. Kind of sad, but, that's just life. Appreciate the small things and take it one day at a time. Hell, that's all ya really can do.

Now, I kinda feel like I should start writing greeting cards. LOL It's true, though.
 

The_Fixer

Class Clown
Heya Phez!

That is part of my trade as well and these kind of accidents are not too uncommon unfortunately.

Sounds like he was using a 5" grinder and was using the leading edge of the disc instead of the trailing edge. Naughty, naughty. And highly risky. He is a lucky guy to get away with it so lightly. Worse if you're using it one handed too, or take the handle off. Those things have enormous power. :nervous:

The other common grinder is the 9", which is a massive machine to handle and when things go wrong with those ones, the results can be quite catastrophic. Have met a few guys with what I call the "9 inch smile", which is where they've been hit in the face with one and the resulting scar runs from the corner of the mouth across the cheek to the neck. Lucky survivors. I think the 9" is pretty much banned in NZ now, but not here.

We once had a young 17 year old drug addled apprentice in our shop. He was usually given a 1st year job of using the 5" and a cup brush (wire brush attachment which is shaped like a cup) to clean up raw steel before painting. 5 times he got that grinder wrapped up in his shirt and a few resultant bruises on his belly. Each time it happened, he got bigger bruises. :omg:

He had been a big drug user since 14 and was a troubled boy. His father was our supervisor and he was really too stupid to be using machinery. He never tucked his shirt in and wouldn't wear a leather apron for protection until we all threatened to bury our collective boots up his *ahem* if we caught him not doing it. He eventually quit much to our relief, none of us wanted to be sweeping up his internals off the floor eventually.

I hope your brother got a big enough fright to respect the machine's power and use it safely, no matter what. I am so glad to hear he will be OK though. But to be fair, we all get a little inattentive and tired at times and will cut corners without thinking. It takes some willpower to follow all the safety rules without fail. Especially if you're working up to 18 hour days, like I was on the Drilling Rigs...

I can just imagine the fright you guys got though. Great outcome considering though. Someone was watching over him.

Of course he went back to work. We are steel workers and a bunch of tough guys... *hawk* *spittooie*. :coolwink:

I think this is the first time I'm posting in this thread and boy do I have a doozy to start off with!

My family is neither religious or particularly spiritual, but, blessings from somewhere were surely shining down on us yesterday and I am thankful to whatever/whoever made it possible. You see, my big brother --who I'm very close with, is an industrial welder. This is a profession that has kept us up nights worried about him as its very dangerous and there are always horrendous accidents/incidents. My brother has always been very lucky and never suffered any serious injury. Few minor burns here and there, which is just par for the course. Yesterday, however, our worst fears were realized.

Late afternoon (just as his shift was to be ending) we received a phone call that simply said he'd been hurt, there was a lot of blood, and he'd been taken to the hospital. This is ALL they told us. I just have to stop and wonder how a person could make such a phone call. I know they probably didn't have all of the information, but, to tell us something so vague and awful was just heart wrenching --and worse, to not even tell us what hospital he'd been taken to. Some of the most dreadful few hours of my life as we called everyone we knew to call and desperately tried to get some information on his condition. I should mention, he only works about 30 minutes from our home, so it's not like he was out of state and we couldn't get to him or something. Finally someone got back to us explaining that he was 'okay' and all they knew is that the accident involved a grinder. Honestly, this didn't really help much. A few more hours of worrying and phone tag and we were able to speak with my brother. 'I'm okay, it didn't hurt. Don't worry, I'll be home soon' is what he said. We relaxed abit, but, were honestly still very on edge. By all accounts something very serious had happened and he just didn't sound right. Sure enough, he walked through the door another hour or so later. His left arm heavily bandaged and his shirt torn to shreds.

Apparently, he had been standing with his boss while smoothing the edges of some metal he was working with when the grinder 'bucked'. The force of the buck forced it into his stomach and his shirt got caught in it. My brother says he didnt feel any pain, just the impact and he frantically tried to free his shirt/himself ; which he did. He lifted up his shirt and was relieved to find just some minor scrapes, however, his boss was white as a ghost and on the verge of passing out. This is when my brother noticed all the blood coming from his arm. I will try not to be too graphic, but, the grinder essentially went through his forearm about half-way. It cut through the muscle, tendons, and just BARELY missed an artery. Thankfully, the tendons were not severed and the cut was clean, so the doctor says it should heal up just fine. He has full range of motion and sensation--much to his dismay, I might add. Amusingly enough, the doctor was actually concerned she wouldn't be able to line up his tattoo again. My brother figures thats the least of his problems and kindly asked she just put his arm back together. xD

So today, we are happy. We are SO HAPPY that my brother is okay. He's alive, healthy, and still has all of his limbs. We know that this exact type of accident doesn't always have such good results and we are so thankful it turned out the way it did. He even went to work today. I suppose nearly losing your life or arm/hand is no reason to call in sick, the man is unstoppable and a huge pain in the ass. But, damn glad to still have him!
 
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Pheryn

Patron with Honors
Heya Phez!

That is part of my trade as well and these kind of accidents are not too uncommon unfortunately.

Sounds like he was using a 5" grinder and was using the leading edge of the disc instead of the trailing edge. Naughty, naughty. And highly risky. He is a lucky guy to get away with it so lightly. Worse if you're using it one handed too, or take the handle off. Those things have enormous power. :nervous:


The other common grinder is the 9", which is a massive machine to handle and when things go wrong with those ones, the results can be quite catastrophic. Have met a few guys with what I call the "9 inch smile, which is where they've been hit in the face with one and the resulting scar runs from the corner of the mouth across the cheek to the neck. Lucky survivors. I think the 9" is pretty much banned in NZ now, but not here.

We once had a young 17 year old drug addled apprentice in our shop. He was usually given a 1st year job of using the 5" and a cup brush (wire brush attachment which is shaped like a cup) to clean up raw steel before painting. 5 times he got that grinder wrapped up in his shirt and a few resultant bruises on his belly. Each time it happened, he got bigger bruises. :omg:

He had been a big drug user since 14 and was a troubled boy. His father was our supervisor and he was really too stupid to be using machinery. He never tucked his shirt in and wouldn't wear a leather apron for protection until we all threatened to bury our collective boots up his *ahem* if we caught him not doing it. He eventually quit much to our relief, none of us wanted to be sweeping up his internals off the floor eventually.

I hope your brother got a big enough fright to respect the machine's power and use it safely, no matter what. I am so glad to hear he will be OK though. But to be fair, we all get a little inattentive and tired at times and will cut corners without thinking. It takes some willpower to follow all the safety rules without fail. Especially if you're working up to 18 hour days, like I was on the Drilling Rigs...

I can just imagine the fright you guys got though. Great outcome considering though. Someone was watching over him.

Of course he went back to work. We are steel workers and a bunch of tough guys... *hawk* *spittooie*. :coolwink:

That's exactly what he was using. Also, much to our horror, it did not have a handle. Apparently, his boss has been petitioning for awhile over the grinders as they do not have handles and safety guards have been removed. My brother agrees that he's at fault for using it, but, unfortunately..that's all that has been provided. Everyone is at fault and stupid in this situation. My brother is new at this particular place and has only been there for a few weeks. This accident wasn't the first, his boss had a similar accident just a few months ago. I guess the safety of their employees isn't a top priority. To be perfectly honest, it doesn't seem to be at a lot of the places he's worked. Ugh. Just a nightmare. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. Such a stupid and awful situation.

Edit to add.. I completely forgot to mention that I definitely think he was tired and probably not paying as close attention as he should have been. He's been working his usual hours +a lot of overtime for awhile now and to make things even worse is that a bunch of guys quit (hard to imagine why) or were fired recently and my brother has had to pick up their slack. Even having to do things that he doesn't normally. So I think a lot of things played into the why/how of his accident. Even someone with as much experience as he has (about 16 years) is bound to have a total derp moment under such conditions. He's just so very lucky to escape with the injuries he got. I think it shook him up pretty good. He's seen a lot of accidents happen over the years (including death) and I think it's a big wake-up call for him to actually have experienced it himself.
 
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cleared cannibal

Silver Meritorious Patron
That's exactly what he was using. Also, much to our horror, it did not have a handle. Apparently, his boss has been petitioning for awhile over the grinders as they do not have handles and safety guards have been removed. My brother agrees that he's at fault for using it, but, unfortunately..that's all that has been provided. Everyone is at fault and stupid in this situation. My brother is new at this particular place and has only been there for a few weeks. This accident wasn't the first, his boss had a similar accident just a few months ago. I guess the safety of their employees isn't a top priority. To be perfectly honest, it doesn't seem to be at a lot of the places he's worked. Ugh. Just a nightmare. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. Such a stupid and awful situation.

Edit to add.. I completely forgot to mention that I definitely think he was tired and probably not paying as close attention as he should have been. He's been working his usual hours +a lot of overtime for awhile now and to make things even worse is that a bunch of guys quit (hard to imagine why) or were fired recently and my brother has had to pick up their slack. Even having to do things that he doesn't normally. So I think a lot of things played into the why/how of his accident. Even someone with as much experience as he has (about 16 years) is bound to have a total derp moment under such conditions. He's just so very lucky to escape with the injuries he got. I think it shook him up pretty good. He's seen a lot of accidents happen over the years (including death) and I think it's a big wake-up call for him to actually have experienced it himself.

It has been my experience that when professionals have an accident that both complacency and fatigue are usually the primary factors. One without the other is bad enough. Both together is a disaster waiting to happen.
There was a whole show I watched on this on the series "Why Planes Crash" . It related to pilot fatigue and small talk in the cock pit. The crashes outlined in the show resulted in new rules on rest and when a "sterile cockpit must be maintained.

Most all of us can relate to this if it is applied to driving a vehicle, an activity most of us do that a moments inattention can have dire consequenses.
 

JustSheila

Crusader
It has been my experience that when professionals have an accident that both complacency and fatigue are usually the primary factors. One without the other is bad enough. Both together is a disaster waiting to happen.
There was a whole show I watched on this on the series "Why Planes Crash" . It related to pilot fatigue and small talk in the cock pit. The crashes outlined in the show resulted in new rules on rest and when a "sterile cockpit must be maintained.

Off subject, but my brother, who has worked as an Air Traffic Controller for over 40 years, says the crashes are caused by a number of other things as well:


1) Small planes claiming they have "visual" so refuse ATC instructions. Many close calls when other planes were on different levels, speeds and routes and the small plane ignored ATC. This has been a huge problem. Some ATCs were so traumatised from near misses like this that they ended up in therapy for years or quit. They hate small planes claiming visual.

2) Drunk Russian pilots. Never fly a Russian airline, he says, they are often drunk, and even though they are required to know the English instructions, they often don't.

3) The early Airbuses had a lot of mechanical problems and accidents. He still won't fly on an Airbus.

4) Excessive use of planes without allowing sufficient maintenance time between flights. (You don't want to know the details, believe me.) Since then, American Airlines and some of the others known for tight schedules have loosened up their schedules and also combined with other airlines so that planes used for longer flights (like international flights) have sufficient maintenance time. He suspects it still occasionally happens, though, because of cost concerns and schedules.

5) Historically, the ATC systems were terribly antiquated, with less power than one of today's PC's, decades behind technology. When those would break down, often the backup would also break down and they would actually use little paper figures to represent the planes. That ATCs managed to get planes landed and routed safely this way with no one knowing the difference just blows my mind. RESPECT. It has only been in the last 10-15 years that these systems were upgraded.

I still fly. I try to avoid Airbuses if the planes are listed and I have a choice. But I think all of us can just help our own safety if we don't complain when a plane is held up or delayed. Someone is already taking a lot of flack for holding up a plane for safety reasons when that happens. Pressure on the airline can lead to poor judgement.
 

The_Fixer

Class Clown
Over here in Oz there are strict safety rules in place within workshops and site projects. Site projects are usually the most strict enforcers of the rules. Generally, the smaller the workshop, the more casual the safety approach.

Get sprung by the safety inspectors though and you are deep in doggie doo.

Nearly all of us tradies have at some time or another flouted these rules as our needs dictated. Usually because the specific tool or machine wasn't available. But usually the risk is calculated within our experiences and we normally get away with it. However there are always those tradies you wouldn't trust to be in charge of a diaper pin.

I have been told by some guys who work out on large projects around this country about why sites are so strong on safety.

It has nothing to do with our safety or well being. Any accident potentially leads to litigation, fines and a host of other expenses, which comes off the final profits. This means reduced dividends for the shareholders of the project. So in the end, it is all about protecting profits and the shareholder. The side effect is improved working conditions for the guy on the tools. The guys also say that with all the assessing, planning and execution of getting the job safe enough to work on, they would be lucky to get 4 hours work done in a 10 hour day! On site there is a number of legally required safety officers and inspectors looking to catch anyone on any safety breaches and they are known to be pedantic and merciless. Penalties range from fines to dismissal. There were even a couple of places where the inspectors have caught guys limping around and kicked them offsite for being unfit to work.

All this being said, there are still many serious accident on site. The managers are terrified of LTI's (Lost Time Incidents) and it isn't uncommon to find tool workers doing a stretch in the office with bits of their bodies missing or broken until they are fit enough to return to normal duties. These guys are still working, so it isn't an LTI.

Kind of reminds one of the Scientology stats situation. Anything to keep the stats in order.

A friend of mine was working in a gold mine over here when he injured his knee, quite a bit of damage inside. The safety officer took him to the doctor in town and my friend was asking for an X-Ray or MRI on it. He knew there was some damage there. The safety officer told the doctor to diagnose it as soft tissue damage and go no further, which the doctor did. There was about 6 weeks to go on the project and he was told he could follow it up further after 2 months or so when everything about the project was finalised. That was about 4 years ago and he is still struggling to get his knee right after several surgeries.

But it is good in some ways that we get protection from harm on the worksite. If guys have to much to say about dangerous situations or how the management team are not prioritizing their safety, they usually find themselves on the next plane back home and on a blacklist for a year or two at least.

Many of the mines here have gone back to the 8 to 10 hour day maximum. They have found longer days lead to lower productivity and more accidents.
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
2) Drunk Russian pilots. Never fly a Russian airline, he says, they are often drunk, and even though they are required to know the English instructions, they often don't.

And not just Russian ones. Apparently, alchoholism is fairly prevalent among airline pilots. I haven't got docs to back that up, but I have heard it said several times. Furthermore, my ex father-in-law was a British Airways pilot, and when his daughter and I would meet up with him briefly at one of his stopovers, he would be straight into the bar and sinking double scotches like it was going out of fashion. Scary!
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :happydance::happydance:



[video=youtube;4115qFsdWKQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4115qFsdWKQ[/video]
 
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