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Safety? Over-rated!
Sep. 5th, 2006 05:05 pmIf I always hewed to the safe choice, I'd have a pretty boring life. This is not to say I wouldn't like to live a long life. Indeed, I'd be quite sad in some ways if I didn't get to see any prospective grand-children I might have coming my way in 40 years or so. But I'd be similarly sad if I led a quiet meek life, and left my daughter with no interesting stories of the things I did, and nothing to tell her children about their grandfather. One of the best qualities I think I can give to Widget is my ability to look at things without being cowed by their scarier sides.
This past weekend, I spent some time at 55mph on a Jetski on a lake, and not an entirely calm one too. There were moments on mild fear, but it didn't stop me from trying it again and again that afternoon, as I knew the fun that came from it would be exhilirating. I snowboard down hills I don't honestly know if I'm capable of making it down, because I know that the thrill of making it down will make me entirely forget the seconds of "heart-in-my-throat" peering over the lip from the top. I race cars because the excitement for me outweighs what I consider the reasonable risk. To me, if I always took the safe way out, didn't risk much, I'd be lying to myself and to what I think is my human nature. Humanity is made to adapt and explore new things. There's something latently waiting inside each person to make an amazing leap of some kind or another, but in some people, it's supressed somehow, through upbringing or parental reinforcement to "for god's sake, be careful!" It's hard to let your kid just run out there and throw themselves into something, even for me, and I try to step back from time to time and, supervised, let Widget just try stuff out and see what happens. I don't want her to ever be scared of trying something just because it's dangerous and dangerous things are to be avoided. I want her to have the mental freedom to approach danger as another risk factor to consider in the equation of whether or not to do something, not an automatic disqualification.
http://www.shelleconomistprize.com/essays/Milksop_Nation_Jack_Gordon.pdf
This past weekend, I spent some time at 55mph on a Jetski on a lake, and not an entirely calm one too. There were moments on mild fear, but it didn't stop me from trying it again and again that afternoon, as I knew the fun that came from it would be exhilirating. I snowboard down hills I don't honestly know if I'm capable of making it down, because I know that the thrill of making it down will make me entirely forget the seconds of "heart-in-my-throat" peering over the lip from the top. I race cars because the excitement for me outweighs what I consider the reasonable risk. To me, if I always took the safe way out, didn't risk much, I'd be lying to myself and to what I think is my human nature. Humanity is made to adapt and explore new things. There's something latently waiting inside each person to make an amazing leap of some kind or another, but in some people, it's supressed somehow, through upbringing or parental reinforcement to "for god's sake, be careful!" It's hard to let your kid just run out there and throw themselves into something, even for me, and I try to step back from time to time and, supervised, let Widget just try stuff out and see what happens. I don't want her to ever be scared of trying something just because it's dangerous and dangerous things are to be avoided. I want her to have the mental freedom to approach danger as another risk factor to consider in the equation of whether or not to do something, not an automatic disqualification.
http://www.shelleconomistprize.com/essays/Milksop_Nation_Jack_Gordon.pdf
