29 December 2009

A bit of gloom in the midst of holidays

Cleaning up my personal e-mail in-box, I have discovered that during the last two or three months I have received about 20 mails in three languages dealing with the same subject: what a person should do in the eventuality of a heart attack. The mails weren't spam, all were sent by my friends, colleagues and even relatives. Probably they all are trying to tell me something, although I couldn't figure out what it might be.

In any case, back to the e-mails. Being written in three languages I know, they differ in their wording slightly, but are almost identical in contents*, and every darn one of them carries the same sentence:

The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep, did not wake up.
And of course, being ambiguous as it is, the sentence was the only one that received my undivided attention. I didn't resolve the ambiguity, but after mulling on it somewhat fiercely, I have decided that both meanings are fine with me. No worries then.

(*) And for those of you who haven't received such an e-mail, here is the gist of it:

If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water. Afterwards:
  • call 911
  • phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by
  • say"heart attack!"
  • say that you have taken 2 aspirins.
  • take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and...
  • do NOT lie down
(what a load of crapola!)

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