One day a farmer found the need to jump into the pit. Maybe he needed to hook up the pumping equipment or maybe there was a problem with the drain.
After a few minutes, the man collapsed into the muck and didn't move. Concerned, his hired hand jumped into save him. The hired hand also collapsed with no warning. The farmer had two daughters who helped with the farm work. They too jumped in and died. As did the man's wife.
Before I tell you what was killing them, let me ask you, if you had watched two, three, or four healthy adults die, would you follow them into the pit?
Even if they didn't know that decomposing manure puts off a colorless, odorless gas called Methane. Why jump in after them?
Even if they didn't know that Methane is denser than normal atmospheric gases and would displace the normal air, which is nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, why jump into a pit that had just killed people?
Even if they didn't realize that our drive to breath is not driven by lack of Oxygen in the blood, but by the concentration of Carbon Dioxide, which is a waste gas, and that breathing in and out methane would clear the Carbon Dioxide so that the victim wouldn't have felt like they were suffocating, WHY JUMP IN THE PIT?
Why? Because people are not rational. Instead of calling 911 and fishing the first and second victims out with a hook, the farmer's daughters jumped in to save their dad, and died too.
This is my little contribution. If you see that someone in front of you dies with no explanation, call for help before you jump in the pit. If you spend time in a manure pit, turn on a fan first.
No comments:
Post a Comment