I’ve been an atheist my whole life. Never saw a reason to even consider the possibility of gods and/or goddesses, and considered the belief in them to be akin to believing in fairies. This September, while I was working the grave shift, I started feeling extremely dizzy, and my field of vision narrowed by about 50%. I told a cow-orker, “Would you mind calling an ambulance while I lay down here in the middle of the lobby?” Not too long after, the nice young men in the clean white coats came to take me away(ho ho, hee hee, ha ha) to the nearest hospital, which luckily was part of my wife’s HMO, where the doctor told me I had a blood clot the size of a lemur inhabiting the right side of my brain. At least, that’s what I thought he said, but when you’ve got a blood clot the size of a lemur inhabiting the right side of your brain, you’re bound to misremember the exact details, right? Anywhatzit, the doc said that they needed to operate immediately, and I said sure.
By the time I woke up, both My Beloved and my sainted mother were by my bedside, and I had tubes coming out of me in four different areas(first one to guess which four areas correctly wins a free beer at The Twilight Room down the street). Relearning how to walk was a chore, but relearning how to talk was a major son of a bitch, and for awhile there I thought that the rewiring would never take.
Through all this, though, I never once entertained the thought of Heaven, Hell, or prayer. I went into surgery trusting my doctors to do the right thing to the best of their abilities, and woke up thanking them(mentally, at least) for the excellent job they did.
But now I think I know why I am, and will forever be, an atheist.
I love Mankind, and I have faith in Mankind.
Interesting theory. I’m an atheist, but I am also the most cynical person I or any of my friends know. I’ve had a few close calls (although nothing that sounds as serious as your experience) and I also never thought to pray, or convert or whatnot.
Czarcasm, glad to read that the man who brought “low carp spaghetti” to the Dopefest a couple of years ago is OK.
I gradually became an atheist myself, after years of Christian indoctrination. Reason and simple human love and compassion have never let me down, where religion was like performing rituals to an unresponsive nothing. There was no “still small voice” that I didn’t provide myself, either my own insights, or something that I was taught by someone.
I’ve since been in the Foxhole a couple of times. People came through for me, as I have for others. Humanity is worthy of my faith. I still have the capacity to be surprised and delighted by the simplest act of human kindness. I hope to never lose that. I lost (or rather, tossed aside) any faith in gods of any kind because I have simply seen no reason to maintain it. It was useless to me, and irrelevant to my life.
Well, I figured guessing both wrists was a stretch. Unless both wrists was right, and it was one of the other ones not there, but it seems likely you had a catheter and were intubated.
Born and baptized a Christian, spent 5 years in a Roman Catholic convent, then the rest in various Christian schools, fought a war in God’s name, and so on and so forth. And I’m pretty much a reborn atheist.
On the flip side of your foxhole, I have been known to say ‘Oh god I’m coming!’. Weird. I certainly didn’t learn that from the nuns.
That’s weird, I don’t remember the song going like that - is that another verse?
Seriously though, glad to hear you’re doing so much better.
What’s the difference between God and a brain surgeon?
God doesn’t think he’s a brain surgeon.
Having worked in hospitals for many years now, I know that you might’ve had faith in the surgeon’s abilities, but a lot of them think they’re due for deification.
bouv, I was thinking that a PICC line might go in the chest but then I’m not sure where the other tube would be. Nasal cannula for oxygen? Tube up the rear end? I’ve had to visit too many inlaws in the hospital, seen lots of tubing of various kinds in place.
Same. I’ve had major surgery twice and had a gun pointed at me (it turned out to be a replica, but I couldn’t tell) and never once did the notion of theism enter the picture.
What the hell were you doing in a foxhole? Everybody knows brain-infecting lemurs come from foxholes!
I’m glad you’re doing better, Czarcasm. There are too few of us, and we’re not making much headway in the enlightenment department. I’ve never had a real foxhole moment (I slept in a few foxholes in the Army, but that was when I was an Episcopalian.) I don’t know that I wouldn’t, out of habit, reach out for some metaphysical hand. Hmmm.
The only thing the hospital ever got wrong was my diet. They were told over and over again that I was a type II diabetic, and they kept bringing me these meals with a “Heart Healthy!” label on them. Things like pancakes and syrup, muffins, toast, apple or orange juice, fruit cup etc. I would tell them that I couldn’t eat most of what they brought me, and the next shift would do the same thing all over again. One of the nurses said that I could have the orange and apple juice, because, she said(and I quote),“It has no added sugar!”
