The Chances You Will Die From . . .

Sources:  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; State Department:


Last year, 10 Americans were killed by international terrorism.

You are 262 times as likely to die in a fire.

You are 1,595 times as likely to be murdered.

You are 356 times as likely to die from drowning.

You are 416 times as likely to die from an injury at work.

You are 85 times as likely to die in a gun accident.

You are 2,626 times as likely to die in an alcohol-related accident.

You are 2,663 times as likely to die from a fall.

You are 4,024 times as likely to die from a drug overdose.

You are 3,468 times as likely to die in a car accident.


(Between September 11 and the death of Osama bin Laden, the United States spent $1.28 trillion prosecuting the war on terror.)

POEM: "Photograph from September 11" by Wislawa Szymborska

Poem of the Day: Photograph from September 11 BY WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA They jumped from the burning floors— one, two, a few more, higher, lower. The photograph halted them in life, and now keeps them    above the earth toward the earth. Each is still complete, with a particular face and blood well hidden. There's enough time for hair to come loose, for keys and coins to fall from pockets. They're still within the air's reach, within the compass of places that have just now opened. I can do only two things for them— describe this flight and not add a last line. Wisława Szymborska, "Photograph from September 11" from Monologue of a Dog. Copyright © 2005 by Wisława Szymborska. Reprinted with permission of Harcourt, Inc. Source: Monologue of a Dog (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005) WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA Biography  More poems by this author