Ignorance, Bliss, and Mutual Exclusivity

I've always been "out of synch" with my peers, which earned me many a taunt in school and still brings occasional "What planet are YOU on?" stares even to this day. One of the most glaring examples of my abiding peculiarity seems to be my pervasive, baseline life philosophy of, "It very well could happen to me or someone I care for" as opposed to the far more conventional, "That could never happen to me or mine" train of thought that seems to to wholly prevail amongst my fellow human beings. I'm often stunned to note that majoral humanity seems to react to people they know who've suffered some catastrophe, are enduring a horrendous crime/illness/tragedy... or have even going off the deep end and taken other human beings with them... with the observation, "He/she was the LAST person I ever thought that would happen to/would do, such a thing". Meanwhile, when 'such things' occur in the lives of people I know, become interested in, or am otherwise involved with, my reaction is "What on earth ever made us think it couldn't happen to/with them? "

When I was a pre-schooler, I can remember my Mother taking we children into the Police Station to file a report regarding a domestic issue. This was back in the mid-1950's, and in those days, they posted numerous, extremely graphic, black and white photographs of fatal/severe personal injury accidents on the walls of the Police Station's atrium, I assume in hoped-for furtherance of encouraging visitors to stop and think about their attitude and behavior during the time they spent behind the wheel. As we sat on the wooden benches lining the walls in front of the Visitor's Desk, I can vividly recall looking at the blown-up photographs, particularly several taken at the scene of a 'motorist versus a train' fatality accident. I won't go into detail, but let's just say that the motorist lost the bout... for a distance of approximately 2 miles' worth of strewn body parts up and down and all around the tracks. I was only five years old at the time, but I clearly recall thinking, "Why would that man be dumb enough to drive around the crossing gates and try to beat a train?"

I know that people will think that this was a horrible thing for a child of five to see, and that it would forever damage such children. But I would respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree... at least in my case. Yes, the memory of those pictures never left me... but then again, neither did the immensely valuable lessons they taught. And I can tell you that those lessons factored heavily into many an avoided, potentially devastating collision... and a lifelong, safe driving record.

Years later, in my High School Driver's Education Class, I remember we students being shown the films, "Mechanized Death" and "Signal 30", (Signal "30" was the State Highway Patrol's Dispatch Code for a fatal traffic accident). And I remember watching every moment of both films, the latter of which ended with a State Highway Patrolman retrieving a deceased, week-old infant from beneath an utterly obliterated car, cradling its lifeless little body to his chest while still kneeling on the roadside, bowing his head, and weeping openly at the tragedy before him. Only after snapping out of the grip of the films did I realize that my classmates were reacting with laughter and apparent dismissal of what we'd just collectively witnessed. I realized then and believe even now that in many cases, the snickering and wise-cracking were the manifestations of varying forms of denial and other self-defense mechanisms... but I also realized then and still believe that such avenues of insulation can become a slippery slope, indeed ~ all too often resulting in devastation of immense proportions. Only after I shared the experience with my Mother that afternoon did she reveal a fact I had never before known... the man who'd been 'so dumb as to try to beat the train' ~ and paid for his folly with his life ~ was one of my mother's own uncles. She'd simply not told me that at the time due to my tender age.

I guess for me, this, too, as is true of all things important, inevitably returns to the starting gate of the Mobius Strip we call life... the basic premises that mankind seems at such a loss to discern in all their glorious, simplistic perfection: "What goes around always comes around ~ walk, for a moment, in the other man's shoes... and do unto him as you would have him do unto you."

It's a lie, folks... ignorance is never truly bliss.