What can you say about a story like this?
Claire Berlinski ·
Jun 27, 2010 at 1:46am
This awful news item just caught my eye.
A baby girl was killed and her mother critically injured when a tree branch fell and struck them just outside the Central Park Zoo on Saturday, the police said.
It's simply horrible, and no one is at fault. No one was negligent. No one was malign. A tree branch fell. In the process it destroyed a family.
Someone, I imagine, will be sued, and someone will be blamed. But tree branches fall. The only way completely to protect the world from that danger would be to chop down all the trees.
As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods,
They kill us for their sport.
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Re: What can you say about a story like this?
Certainly, this tests one's comfort with fate. As someone who lived within 3 blocks of Central Park for the past eight years and took daily walks there with all three of my infants, I have to think there might be *something* to be done short of razing the place of its magnificent trees. I don't know ... maybe cutting back the largest branches from over the walkways? After all, this is the third such incident in the past year. To his credit, NYC Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe has done wonders with the green spaces in NYC. I actually think of him as a rare gem among city workers. I'd hate for this to reflect poorly on him. He's been out in front of all of these stories and has posted reader-friendly signs around the park about how the city is dealing with the dangers. Poor guy's gotta be demoralized by this. Then again, he's not the one feeling the most pain. The family members of the victims are.
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
Even if you cut back the branches of the trees in Central Park, what do you do about the rest of the world's trees? Never walk under their branches? Prune the forests? There's just a limit to how safe the world can be made, isn't there?
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
True enough. Also, not everyone sues the city for $120 million. My dad worked, walked, and used public transportation in New York City for 45 years. One time, when I was in high school, a pile of bricks fell off the side of a building and one struck my dad on the head. He fell to the ground, realized his head was bleeding, and used some napkins from a hotdog cart to blot it until he got back to the office. He still filed his column that day. We laughed about it over the dinner table. Then, a few years later, a nutty guy on the bus took a disliking to my poor dad sitting there reading the paper and tossed a hot cup of coffee on him. He came home with a soggy paper, a large dark stain on his suit, and red patches on his thighs. Trust me, that's another story we mined for laughs -- not bucks -- for many years.
May '10
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
My family has a habit of laughing about our misfortunes as well. There are times when anger is appropriate, but so much of life is unpredictable and beyond our control. That habit really pays off when severe medical problems strike.
Americans on the left and the right have a habit of focusing on blame, rather than on fixing the problem, first. It seems to be a cultural trait, but I might be wrong.
I often wonder how dramatically different our nation would be if we had tort reform (which will never happen). But, honestly, I can't imagine an America that isn't sue-happy.
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
There really is no way to be "safe," despite the often ludicrous measures we take. Child car seats? Probably not worth much. In fact, so many safety measures create something called the Peltzman Effect: people react to increased perceived safety by engaging in more risky behavior. Which sort of makes sense, in a humans-are-crazy kind of way.
The Freakonomics guys have done a great piece about how better helmets in football have led to both fewer serious head injuries, but more concussions. Because with the helmet on, players feel "safe."
May '10
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
Before I read Rob's post, I was thinking the solution should be "Helmets for Everyone!" In the typical Nanny State fashion, the response to a rare occurrence such as this will no doubt be a 'safety rule' for everyone.
In a similar vein to the football helmets, on the modern battlefield we generally have fewer deaths, but end up with more serious and disabling injuries. In wars past, many wounded would end up dying in the field. But today, with a combination of better body armor, and both better battlefield and major trauma military medicine, many more of our injured survive. Yesterday's deaths are today's Traumatic Brain Injuries and multiple amputees.
May '10
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
What? The President accepted the fact that oil drilling was "absolutely safe". If that is good enough for the uber-educated who run our country, then it is good enough for me!
Re: What can you say about a story like this?
Charles, great, great point! I never thought of this, but it's a brilliant issue to consider. Something Victor Davis Hanson would surely point out, as well.