Just Stay In Bed
I was raised in an environment where there wasn’t a lot of attention paid to safety. There were motorbikes, ATVs, assorted farm equipment, the dreaded “power take-off“, and so on … all open for use without a lot of attention paid to the fact that these things can kill you. Or hurt you badly.
I have had my moments of adrenalin, for sure, but I’m much more cautious now than I once was. I love riding motorcycles but feel a looming sense of caution now that wasn’t exactly present in my 20’s when I was actually doing a lot of riding. Recently, the Woman With Beautiful Arms (WWBA) went skydiving and I can say for sure that 20 years ago, you would have had to hold me back from signing up. Now … not so much. Maybe it is age, making me hold back a bit. A sense that time is finite and meant to be preserved.
Even at hockey, I find myself not pushing physically as much as I should, or could, for fear of injury. I’m also the one who, annoyingly, nags people about wearing their neck guards. I did get a stick across the throat last year, a freak occurance for sure, but I was sure glad I had my neck guard on. Some days, I fear that my sense of caution will over-ride my more natural stance as a risk-taker of sorts.
This morning, Yahoo News offered this news article about a freak accident that resulted in instant death for a woman in Alberta. A smart woman, clearly. It is impossible to judge her need for risk or adrenalin in her life. She was just sitting in her SUV in an underground parking lot, dropped something outside the open door of her SUV, reached to get it, and – through some unknown series of events – wound up pinned between her SUV and a concrete pillar. Experts, so far, think she died instantly.
Here one minute, gone the next.
I think the scary part of this story, for me, is that I can see myself doing the Exact Same Thing. So easily.
Reading about this makes me want to stay in bed, quite honestly. It makes me want to shout louder and more insistently about neck guards, hand brakes, leaving your car in Park, wearing helmets, and just generally BEING CAREFUL. But … people are going to do what they do and my need to keep the people I care about safe is exactly that. My need. My “control” stuff, maybe. I will try to keep my mother hen persona down to a dull roar.
I am, however, going to be much more careful myself, given that I park my car in an underground garage right beside a concrete pillar.
14. August 2009 at 8:53 am :
Very sad story. Really freak accident, by the sounds of it.
And despite your want to protect others, you encourage me to do the crazy things I want to do in life….because you know in some crazy way, they make me happy. I really apprecaite that you support me in my craziness even though it may feel wrong some place inside. I have some motivation to do my things as safely as possible…there are special peoples I need to see again 🙂
And in an odd twist, I can do crazy things and not fear them at all…but worry about others flying and driving to not so far away places. Hmmm, I have some mother hen in me too 😉
14. August 2009 at 9:53 am :
The complete randomness of life and death is always disturbing. You can be careful, but the best you do is improve your odds. You never get guarantees. As I get older, I find I’m more willing to take risks. I’ve lost so much of what I hoped for in life, and it has pointed up to me that playing it safe doesn’t give you any guarantees. And that you can survive so much more than you think you can. Can be happy in situations that you thought would crush you, even.
Life is short. You’re going to die in the end, or worse, in the middle, when you want to know how it turns out for the people you love, want to know what could have been if you took another turn or tried it a bit differently. So why not grab on and take the ride?
14. August 2009 at 1:36 pm :
My motto is to be cautious if you are engaging in a known risky behaviour, and not worry about the freak accidents.
Having suffered a “weekend warrior” 40-yr old type injury and still not being quite right 2 yrs later, I would say as we get older, being cautious in sports activities is REALLY important. Orthopaedic surgeons mostly see people over 40 who are hitting it just as hard at football, hockey etc. as they did 15 years ago … but bodies change.
Prepare for the risks you can, and go to town on everything else 🙂
PS – I clearly remember the lumber yard down the street from my house being a giant playground for the neighbourhood kids, everyone’s parents knew but we only got the mildest of “you shouldn’t play there” lip service. At any time a falling log could have crushed any one of us, not to mention the idea of lurking weirdos….times sure have changed!
17. August 2009 at 9:24 pm :
It is true that worrying about the freak stuff can send you back to bed — and that’s just a silly loop because, duh, bedsores! But I completely understand how the randomness can freak you out, esp. when it triggers a sensation of BUT I DO THAT.
I guess it always comes back to “live now, value it, be grateful. the end”