Well, the pain/death factor is a pretty big incentive to learn what the hell I'm doing, and apparently it's worked. I guess it's literally a case of "by jove, I'm gonna learn this, even if it kills me." I'm single, so if/when I plant it one day, it won't really bother anybody. Work will be pissed they have to hunt down another cheap software developer, but those are a dime a dozen apparently.
The strawberry scar on my knee is a reminder not to grab the living hell out of the front brake with narrow crap tires on wet pavement, just like the ruined $280 fork tube on my shelf is a reminder not to drop the damn thing on concrete when it has no fluid in it. It also reminds me to not buy cheap Cheng Shin tires, no matter how broke I am.
I guess if there's a problem with pulling the rip cord in time, you have to fix the problem, and man up, stop messing about, and pull the damn cord already. Or suffer the consequences.
I'm not really looking forward to getting old, senile, and decrepit. (are we there yet!?) I worry more about a stroke or a heart attack leaving me stuck useless in a chair, than I do about dying in a bike crash. (If I do have a stroke/heart attack, I'd rather people let me go in peace than keep some zombie shell going like they did my grandfather.)
Plus I seriously hate driving piddly-**** little cars, and being stuck in an econo-box, and I can afford an FJR much easier than an Ariel Atom or a Ferrari F40. I think I WOULD have a stroke if I was stuck in my Camaro again, I'm glad the ABS/power brakes failed and put it in a guardrail.
EDIT: I wish I'd taken a picture, I wadded that thing up GOOD. Also, when the Subaru turned left in front of me, I hit it hard enough to knock the rear axle off, and the engine of the GS1100L shattered like dropped crockery. When I went to the junkyard, the guys were standing around looking at the bike going "wow, I guess this guy died, huh?" and I was able to say "nope, that would be me" - it was a couple months before I was able to bend my knee to get back on a bike, and I missed Bike Week that year.