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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Write for the HUMOR Genre (10/09/14)
A few years ago I had the privilege of reading an insurance statement by a client seeking coverage for an injury sustained on the job. I thought I’d share it here because knowing when to let go can be very important at times.

The gentleman was in the construction trade and their crew had just finished a brick laying job several stories up on an office complex roof. Having to move many bricks to the top of the building they had ingeniously designed a pulley system on a swinging arm so that they could place the bricks in a 55 gallon barrel, pull them up to the roof and swing the barrel over onto the top of the building. It took several men on the ground to pull the heavy barrel up and several loads to get all the bricks they needed with some extra to make sure there would be enough (from breakage, miscounting, etc.).

When the job was completed most of the workers went home leaving just two on the site to clean up. One stayed on the top of the building loading the barrel while the second went down below to operate the pulley system and lower down the barrel with the left over bricks. He tied one end of the rope to a tree so that when the barrel was ready to be lowered he could reach to pull the knot loose with one hand while holding onto the rope with the other hand. This system worked well for them getting the bricks up and surely it would work in lowering the brick barrel down. Except for one minor aspect they forgot: there were several men on the rope to hoist up the heavy barrel and now there was only one on the ground to let it down.

His statement for compensation went something like this: I held onto the rope with one hand and reached around to undo the knot around the tree with my other hand. When I did this the barrel started down but it weighed more than I did, but I didn’t let go. As I was being pulled up into the air the barrel and I collided. It broke by shoulder, but I didn’t let go. As I reached the top my fingers started going through the pulley and broke two of them, but I didn’t let go. At the same time the barrel landed hard on the ground breaking the bottom out, releasing the bricks. I now weighed more than the barrel and started falling rapidly. As we passed each other again the barrel hit my knee and dislocated it, but I didn’t let go. When I hit the ground I broke my leg and that’s when I let go, the barrel dropped and landed on my head giving me a concussion.

I guess the moral of this story might be: if you discover something you missed in your planning and things go wrong, know when to let go of the problem, or if the prompt for a Christian writing group is to write something in the humor genre and you write about someone getting hurt, the readers might feel guilty laughing at someone else’s pain (that thought hit me like a ton of bricks but I couldn’t let it go).

And yes, I’ll be throwing a brick on this one.
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This article has been read 627 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Toni Babcock 
10/17/14
Hilarious!!! This is the first story I've read that made me laugh out loud. I still don't want to believe it really happened - but it sounds uncannily and bizarrely possible lol...I'm going to have to read this one over again...
C D Swanson 
10/18/14
Okay...here I go!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now, after that hilarious outburst let me throw out this disclaimer..in no way am I laughing with glee at that poor hapless individual...thank God he survived.

However, I am laughing at the superb relaying of the entire incident...expert writing, see you in the winner's circle!

Thanks for the gut wrenching belly laugh!!!

God bless~
Noel Mitaxa 
10/21/14
I guess that putting this story together was on your bucket list????
It's a story I've heard from several sources, but it's always worth another look. Well done.
Dee Kyalo
10/25/14
"...if the prompt for a Christian writing group is to write something in the humor genre and you write about someone getting hurt, the readers might feel guilty laughing at someone else’s pain (that thought hit me like a ton of bricks but I couldn’t let it go)."

Hahaha...I wouldn't either.
This is a good one!