Never Forget Things Can Go Horribly Wrong

 

I got only a glimpse on a television spot by some safety organization warning how no matter what we are doing we have to look beyond anticipated pleasure in some future activity – to the possibility that our activity can result in tragic results.

The short advertisement pictured two young boys looking at a collection of fish in an aquarium while one of the boys tells the other that his father is taking him on (I think) an outing on the ocean to search for another captive fish to add to his collection. Just before the advertisement ends as the boys rush off camera in response to a man's voice one tells the other something like, "my father says I can keep any one I want!"

However just as they are leaving a female voice over warns, "Nobody wakes up in the morning expecting to drown that day !" Apparently the owner of the aquarium is going to drown on this outing!

The warning here is obviously that you should never get so lost in your activity – no matter how enjoyable or attention riveting it is – that you do not stay constantly aware of tragic problems that could erupt from your actions or the actions of somebody your are with. Remember every action has a reaction.

Combine this with Murphy's Law – if something can go wrong it will and at the worst possible moment – and you have a lethal combination you should stay aware of.

 

Yet how many of us do? How many snowmobilers die or see their friends die because they missed the signs of an avalanche? How many skiers die because they ski in "out of bounds" areas? How many drivers die in vehicle accidents because they get caught up in cell phone use while driving? How many pedestrian die or get crippled every year because they step off the street – with their heads down and without looking -- into oncoming traffic – simply because they feel safe in a pedestrian crosswalk? How many cyclists die each year because some cities have now given them more rights on the road in North Anmerica and they often aggressively assert those rights in dealing with motorized vehicles?

Like that television advertisement said in effect: "Nobody gets up that morning expecting something bad to happen to them!" – but with Murphy around it often does if you do not stay aware of your surroundings and possibly tragic actions.