Ordinary People Reveal The Most Extraordinary Risk They've Ever Taken

by Elana

Reddit user Battle_of_Doges wanted to know something about ordinary people being not-so-ordinary so he just flat out asked the r/AskReddit community: "What's the most badass thing you've ever done?" Whatever your expectations might be for such a question, I assure you that you still have plenty of room to be totally surprised by what people have done in their lifetime.

If anything, it's quite the testament to what we are capable of, no matter how mundane and ordinary our day to day lives are, we are capable of doing extraordinary things. Or if you prefer Battle_of_Doges's terminology, we can be pretty badass.

1. Damn, girl, you're badass.

“Pulled someone out of an overturned burning car while pregnant.”

2. There's nothing more serious than a mild-mannered ginger.

“I grew up in a not-so-safe neighborhood, and when I was 16 had a job at the local Dairy Queen. One slow night, 5 minutes before closing, I’m working with one other person, a smaller girl, when two guys ride up on their bikes.Nobody else was around, and it was already completely dark. They walked up to the door and talked a bit before entering. One of them pulled out a gun from a pocket or his pants and put it into his jacket, and a few seconds later goes to open the door.I still don’t know why this was my reaction, but suddenly I, the tall, skinny, pale ginger, took a step towards the door and pointed back outside, made eye contact and said“You’re going to have to leave that outside.”The guy with the gun stopped and just said “oh”, politely set the gun outside on the concrete, and came back inside. This was immediately followed by the most “okay, just act normal” moment in my life.”

3. Treat Yo'self

“I chased a man down at the mall who had stolen a woman’s purse. Tackled him, and restrained him until security showed up. Then went to Cinnabon and treated myself.I ate the Cinnabon in one bite, it was the most badass thing I’ve ever done to date.”

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4. He did not think it through, and neither did she.

“I was pumping gas at a station with my sister (me being 19 at the time and her being 16) when a man (probably like 25 years old) got into the backseat of my car. I started to yell at him to get out of my car. My sister was shaking scared.He then pulled a gun on me and told me to get in the car and drive. Without even thinking I started to make him question himself by saying “or what? Are you going to shoot me right here in this well lit gas station? There are other people around, did you really think this through?”He started to look around, called me a “stupid bitch” got out of the car and ran off.”

5. Oh HEELLLLLL no

“I was at a small local concert that was being held in a park. It was a bunch of metal and thrash bands, mostly local acts , but a few touring bands. The gazebo where we were playing was on a small island in a lake, with the only access being a bridge that led to the parking lot.The event organizers had a couple of people stationed on the bridge to take tickets. It was a pretty cool setup to just be available for us to rent out.Everyone was being pretty chill and enjoying the show. There was a mosh pit with a few guys, but there was plenty of room. Then this group of idiots shows up. 70% of this crowd is underage, but these guys show up drunk and with more beer and immediately start causing trouble.They are asked to leave, and told the cops are being contacted. Tensions are high, yelling and cussing all over, but hey they are leaving now. Maybe we can go back to enjoying ourselves.One of the organizers walked behind them while she was escorting them out, phone in hand. Just as they reach the bridge, this guy turned around and slapped the crap out of her.I saw red. The stage was about 50 meters from the bridge and I broke into a sprint heading for this guy, ready to whoop his ass. I’m half way there I all five of these guys turn and run. I’m a big guy, but still, I didn’t expect all five to run.I get to the chick that got slapped and I stop running, she is safe and I’m feeling like a badass for chasing these guys off. Then I turn to see that all of the no less than 200 people at the show saw the same thing I did and were right behind me, ready to stomp these guys onto the ground.So, I didn’t chase them off myself, but I basically led a battle charge.”

6. No one is more pathetic than a criminal, I guess.

“Guy pulled a knife on me when I was a bit tipsy and waiting for a bus and demanded my wallet.Without thinking I hit him in the jaw and knocked him out cold.Stole his knife and walked away. Still have the knife somewhere around here.”

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7. It's amazing what people will do for a good dog.

“So I was chilling at my really rich friend’s house in high school with a few buddies just smoking a joint outside in the winter and we hear whimpering/crying. We notice his dog is missing and soon after our worst fear becomes reality as we see it’s him we heard out on the frozen lake, he walked a good 200 feet out and fell through.Freaking out and stoned we run to the neighbors beach that was closer to him, get in their canoe and start chopping through the ice pushing ourselves forward inch by inch. About 2/3 of the way out I broke the solid wood oar clean in half trying to force ourselves out to him. We make it there and somehow he’s still managing to stay afloat in the freezing water after being stuck at least 15-20 minutes.I was at the front of the boat so I got to him first, now keep in mind this is an absolutely soaked 90lb (dry) dog and I’m 5’7″ 120lbs but thanks to adrenaline I pulled him out like he was a chihuahua. We get him to the nearest animal hospital which was like 25 miles away since it was late at night and he made it. Lived another ~10 years after that.”

8. A girl has got to do what a girl has got to do.

“My brother and I are close in age so we grew up always playing on the same hockey team together. I’m a girl who’s 1 year older than him and was often the only girl on the team. Anyways, during one particular game when he was 11 and I was 12 this one kid on the other team kept on picking on my brother.He finally illegally tripped my brother and my brother slid head first into the boards. The kid got a penalty and went into the box. I decided that when he got out I was going to make my revenge. As soon as he got out I skated towards him at full speed, put my stick between his feet and flipped him onto his head with one swift motion. Looked down at him and told him to leave my little brother alone. Then happily skated over to the penalty box while my parents cheered me on from the stands.All the kids on my team thought it was pretty badass..so I’m pretty sure that’s the most badass thing I’ve done. It’s also one of my favorite memories.”

9. This sounds like a tension filled day.

“Doing a hazmat response all suited up where I had to contain water reactive and air reactive chemicals that were in an exploded glovebox with nitrogen pouring out, blood everywhere from the researcher involved-on a timer to beat the emptying nitrogen cylinder."

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10. Ma'am

“A bouncer at a club stopped me from going out onto the smoking patio to join my friends and demanded I show him my tits before he let me pass. I was drunk and in a shit mood, and I hauled off and punched him hard just about right between his stomach and his breastbone. I am short, he was tall, so it was a straight punch on my part and he was not expecting it.He kind of gasped, his eyes got wide, and he staggered backwards a few steps and sat down hard on a barstool behind him. I walked out on the smoking patio and told my friends “Um, I think I just fucked up pretty hard and we’re probably going to get thrown out, I hope they don’t call the cops.”Nope, when we went to go back in, the bouncer was like “go right ahead, ma’am.””

11. Sweet Baby Moses

“I made a crowd of 300+ people split like the story of Moses and the sea.I was assigned one of the main entryways of a sporting event as an unarmed security guard, alone. The client asked me to clear a path through all those people so they could get some sort of construction vehicle in.I don’t raise my voice much, I didn’t even have access to a megaphone so in my mind I was like “how in the actual fuck you expect me to do that?” Nonetheless, I gave it a go. Tried about a 9/10 volume authoritative tone.“Attention everyone please; I need you all to clear a path.” <Karate chop hands spread outward slowly>Absolutely every single person in front of me found one side or the other of 6+ feet within two seconds, as though we were one. As impressed as I was with the result, I played it off like it was just another day.”

12. Somehow!

“Got an inflatable kayak flipped somewhere between class 3 and 4 rapids on the Colorado River. Was drug down about 10 to 12 feet came up under the kayak had to get out from under it in the rapids.Gathered all my gear back in the water and didn’t even lose the sunglasses off my face somehow.”

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13. Grief is hard.

“My first week as a security guard on bike patrol. I saved a 19 year old young woman from commiting suicide on the top of a 6 story parking garage. She had just lost a preemie.”

14. The most badass thing you can do is be one hell of a friend.

“Buddy of mine in college had an absolutely awful string of family members passing away. He had booked his Amtrak ticket home for something like the third time that semester. The last time he did that, he was two days delayed because of a cargo train derailment on the same tracks.While he was sleeping, I used my northwest airlines miles to book him a ticket home in first class.He deserved it and I had “earned” them just riding back and forth to home.”

15. Jump, Grandpa! Jump!

“When I was in 8th grade my house caught on fire. I saved my grandpa, made him jump out of the 2nd story window, and then jumped myself."

16. Raise your daughters to be like this, y'all.

“One night when I was about 8 or 9 (female), I heard a noise that woke me up. I’m a very light sleeper, so I wake up to just about anything. The noise sounded like someone opened a window and climbed in. I then heard foot steps coming from my living room so I knew someone was in my house.So I took a metal baseball bat and snuck into my kitchen to find a middle aged man in our living room. I went to a spot where I could see the guy but he couldn’t see me unless he decided to go into the kitchen. I waited until he was distracted with his back turned and made my attack. I hit the guy in the head as hard as I possibly could with my metal bat a few times and knocked him out cold.My parents heard the commotion and ran downstairs, my dad holding a weapon as well. They find me with a bat in hand, a grin on my face, and a man out cold on the floor. Police were called and the man was arrested. It was scary as shit, but at least it gave me a cool story to tell.”

17. The literal taste of victory.

“My friend was throwing a cookie to another friend about 8 ft away. I dove between them and intercepted the cookie with my mouth, which was crazy because it was not small and it rotated perfectly in the air to dock with my mouth.No cookie ever tasted so much like victory.”