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Quote of the Day – Safety
A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what ships are built for – John Augustus Shedd
Today society puts emphasis on safety, in my opinion undue emphasis. We all have a finite span on Earth, regardless of how safe we are. Ultimately we will be judged by what we accomplish in that span. Risk is part of life. We can use our talents, taking risks or we can bury them in the garden, where they will be safe. All total safely can assure is sterility.
I live in the same county as the Santa Fe High School, where a shooting killed ten people. The schools around here are spending millions, hardening security. Will the students really be safer by turning their school buildings into medium security prisons? I doubt it. I suspect society will be worse for having a generation of students educated in a prison environment, schooled to accept suspicion, and raised in the belief that safety trumps all. Plus, all the money spent on unnecessary security is money not spent on schools’ primary mission: education.
We can be safe – by staying safely in harbor, and never venturing out. But without daring, and often not even daring greatly, but generally daring only trivially, we cannot reach our destinations.
Published in General
Sea,
This is so very relevant to the present situation. The former Administration and the controlling mindset it represented had reduced America to 1.5% economic growth and a 1.4% birth rate. These numbers are very much the result of a total safety zero risk sterility.
Our new Administration has a lot of rough edges but zero risk sterility isn’t one of its problems.
Regards,
Jim
I think there are two slightly different problems at work.
Part of the school problem is the same as the air travel problem: too many people think security theater is important, as opposed to measures that actually increase security. Some of the school notions are OK: single access points is probably the most reasonable one, but often prohibitively expensive to fix. We are wrestling wit this exact issue on my school board. Before the recent rash of publicized school shootings it made perfect sense to have multiple high school buildings on a large campus, but that makes securing them much more difficult. We can’t afford to fix ours without a bond issue.
In general, I agree with your point. Vaping is regulated despite the fact that it is virtually benign to bystanders- but it looks bad. More theater.
We struggle in the fire service with this issue; it’s supposed to be a fundamental principle that we don’t take risks that have the potential to expose responders to life threatening hazard. Our gear is better than ever, which, means we can go deeper into burning structures, but if it goes bad suddenly you are in an unacceptably dangerous situation.
Remember: we live in a world where people die doing planking selfie videos for YouTube. That’s danger for its own sake, which strikes me as foolish beyond belief.
This reminds me of a post I look up from time to time on Maggies Farm. It is a prayer attributed to Sir Frances Drake, and I think it is as relevant today as then.:
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.
It’s interesting trying to find a balance between safety and overprotection. There’s some debate that improvements in football helmets is contributing to concussions, players feel better protected and use their heads more in tackling. Same with mountain bikers. The improvement in gear causes some to take bigger risks, expecting the gear to protect them.
If they have such a death wish, why don’t they do a “dirty job” such as antenna tower maintenance?
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Ralphie,
Just beautiful!
Regards,
Jim
Forts and castles haven’t been effective defenses since the invention of cannons. Modern defense requires mobility and the ability to strike back. So long as firearms exist, this will be true for civilians, too. This problem will not be fixed until the general public, or a large fraction of it, takes up again the burden of defending self, family, neighbor, and those entrusted to one’s care. Period.
Phil,
Well gosh, I’m shocked. You’re not suggesting that our very wise framers of the Constitution were also wise when they framed the 2nd amendment, are you? Why the next thing you’ll go defending is the 1st amendment too. Shocking!
Regards,
Jim
Whenever someone praises one of these Internet thrill seekers I point out that an 18 year old Army or Marine rifleman in Southwest Asia faces quite a bit more risk, but is actually doing something to help the world out. Ditto for wildland firefighters, EMT’s, Coast Guardsmen, etc…
Great quote – and it also speaks to today’s kids and campuses that require safe spaces – who want separation from “triggers”, whether speech or really anything – I’ve been seeing a lot of dogs lately in stores – I asked a Walmart clerk because a young couple had a German shepherd in the store. They were not disabled – yet the clerk said if they say its a therapy pet, you can’t argue…. Their ships will never sail..
But they will be safe in harbor . . . until it is too late for them to realize that was not the point of life.
To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law — a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security.
–Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
This brings to mind a movie I saw once, years ago: “Logan’s Run.”
I grit my teeth when I hear the weather people talk about an upcoming snow or rain event and tell us to “stay safe.” Almost inflict as much damage to my teeth as when someone says “diversity is our strength.”
You’re one of my favorites here for this reason. I love this. Reminds me of the Fahrenheit 451 quote
“Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal.
And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping it’s life away.
To hell with that,” he said, “shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.”
Thanks, @seawriter. Not only did I dust off my manuscript after seeing this post, I got Scrivener to help me set a goal— then doubled the day’s target.
Not safe harbor:
S’Truth.
Thank you, Seawriter.