photo by Timothy Stark
Here it is the end of 2015 and I’m still here — and so are you. Have you ever thought about how risky life is and what a miracle it is so many of us reach seniority? Dangers lurk at every turn. It’s a wonder any of us survive childhood, let alone make it to old age.
What with nature’s furies — hurricanes, tornadoes,
billions of bacilli and viruses
volcanoes, floods and storms; the billions of bacilli and viruses that thrive around, on and in us; man-made hazards such as explosives, weapons of war, and so many, many guns, it’s amazing we survive at all.
I can’t drive a block without imagining all the mishaps which can occur. I see myself hitting one of those silly pedestrians dressed all in black, concentrating on a cellphone while crossing the street right in front of my car on a dark, rainy night. What’s if you’re the designated driver when it is ordained that things will go very wrong? Then, there are also those accidents with buses, trains and planes to think about.
Dangers lurk at every turn
Every time I step onto my balcony I imagine it collapsing under me and tumbling down three floors to the cement patio below. I think about these things. I think about these things while normal people go about just living their lives. They don’t have to worry. I’m busy worrying for them.
Did you know your chances of dying in an earthquake are one in 148,756? But how do you know that ONE won’t be you? And if you ARE that one, how reassuring are these calculations? The average number of dog homicides is about 31 per year (in the U.S.) I no longer have a dog, but I know people who do. Recently a local puppy bit my finger. Does this increase my risk in the future?
Does this increase my risk?
Statistically speaking, they say occupations with high risks of injury are truckers and coal miners. Those with the least are supposedly stockbrokers, lawyers and insurance executives. I don’t know about stockbrokers, but lawyers could sue the hell out of anyone responsible for their injuries, and one would hope insurance executives, at the very least, have good coverage.
They don’t even mention retired folk like me, which leads me to think we’re in real trouble. Why else would they leave us out? It’s a plot to make us feel at ease while at every turn they’re after us — and with good reason.
The fatality rate for elevator rides (which total about 18 billion trips each year), is 0.00000015%. My building has one. I use it every day. The younger individuals living on my floor avoid it and usually take the stairs. Do they know something I don’t???
As you can see, I’m not neurotic.
Currently, I’ve begun thinking about the chances of my being hit by a celestial body. I have a one in 150 trillion chance of this happening. I will not allow myself to become a nervous wreck thinking about it. No, I won’t. I won’t! As you can see. I’m not neurotic.
Happy New Year everyone.
View from Over the Hill 
I think it is a flippin’ miracle that our bodies actually continue to function (more or less), day after day, year after year. All those cells, each one having to know exactly what to do and how to get along with all the other ones, all the complex processes, things doing and moving without anyone telling them to… The dangers involved in just getting all that stuff put together relatively correctly in the first place are staggering! How is it that any of us are born without ten thousand birth defects? And the dangers of all that complex stuff going WRONG at any turn — we don’t have to worry about guys with guns and rogue comets to have a plateful of fear! I’M not neurotic EITHER! : )
You made me chuckle. Thanks for taking the time at a very busy time in your life to read my post and comment. Thank you too for your support through the years.
Happy holiday and a great 2016 to us all.
Love, Mom
To quote a great American, “What? Me worry?”
Let’s all raise a glass to that great American on New Year’s Eve.
Happy New Year. Cheers, Muriel