Chapter 45: .45 Galena Pill
“It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.” Herodotus
My dad taught us girls how to shoot a gun when we were old enough. He is not a hunter; he has never killed an animal with a gun for food or survival since I have been alive, but he knows how to shoot and handle a weapon and he felt this knowledge was useful for us as well. When I got married, Mr. MDMM and I would sometimes go to the gun range to practice our shooting. I really enjoyed these times. Once we had kids, I became less enthralled with weapons and saw more of the dangers involved than the benefits. I have always believed that anything is a weapon if you know how to make it one, and likewise, anything that is made with the intention of being a weapon can be more dangerous to someone who does not know how to use it properly. It is best for humanity if they are taught, instead of fear, wisdom to knowingly use or not use certain skills and tools.
At the start of my marriage whenever Mr. MDMM would set off on a trip or expedition, whether it be to the top of a mountain or just to the store, I would say, “be safe!” To this he would answer, “No.” It used to drive me crazy!! Here I was telling him that I loved him and that I wanted him to be safe and he’d reply, “No.” Finally, I asked him why he would respond this way and why he couldn’t just say, “Ok”. He told me that being “safe” is not something that you can decide to do or not do, you can, however, decide to be “skilled”. It sounded ridiculous to me to say, “be skilled!” but I understood his thought process. You can make skilled choices, look at a situation and assess the possible dangers and hazards, and make the best choices possible to avoid most of that danger. If you tell someone to be safe, you are setting up a false pretense of safety.
There have been studies conducted on people wearing helmets, seatbelts, and now facial masks. These studies have had interesting results showing that while they do protect you and help save lives, they also lead to a false sense of security. At times, people take more risks simply because they have the protection applied to them. A mountain bike ride where Mr. MDMM went over his handlebars into a rock and cracked his helmet would have hurt him much worse without a helmet than it did with one on. A car wreck without a seatbelt is asking for a bad result. While these items of protection are smart protection for you, they will not keep you “safe” just maybe “safer” than without them.
Risk assessment is essential to any good program. You must balance the rewards and the risk involved. If the rewards are not more than the risk involved, it is not a worthwhile program. If a thunderstorm is forecasted for the time you are to lead a High Challenge Course activity, the risk of lightning does not balance out with the rewards of learning about personal challenge zones. The definition of safety is “the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.” The definition of risk is “a situation involving exposure to danger.” When we were leading challenge courses, kids would always ask if the adventure was “safe”. No matter how many risks you assess or safety measures you put in place, nothing is ever 100% safe. Human element makes it impossible for life to ever be completely safe. There have been multiple examples of seasoned mountain climbers with all of the right gear and training making simple mistakes and ending up seriously injured or worse. A man who had climbed for years and years forgot to knot the end of his rappelling rope and went right off the end of it to his demise. A simple mistake made by a human cost him his life. However, never taking any risks, never trying anything new, never stepping outside to experience life will lead you to an untimely and miserable demise as well.
Does this mean that you should live life without any thought to the consequences or risks involved? No, absolutely not, and definitively not when it is other people’s children who you are leading and instructing. Rules and regulations were made for a reason and because of something happening and someone wanting to make sure it didn’t happen again. We have worked at camps where rules and regulations weren’t adhered to and even with our input of proper measures needing to be followed, they weren’t. These camps are no longer in operation. We have also worked at camps where there were so many rules and regulations, that all fun was gone from the program. When every single aspect of programming is so structured and protected (for legality’s sake) all learning will stop for the participants. If there is no feeling of risk involved, no one will step out of their comfort zone and try something new and potentially learn something great about themselves.
As the quote from Herodotus stated, it is better if we risk the evil and injury that may happen if we do something than if we “remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.” If I had never allowed myself to be taught how to properly handle a weapon, if I never teach my own children the skills to properly understand something, the risks will outweigh the rewards. If, however, I take the time to assess the situation and learn what I can about something, the rewards will outweigh the risks. It is better to live a life with a little nervousness about the risk involved and learn from it rather than live a life nervous about taking any risk at all and end up living a life that is not worth the rewards.
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