squire,
By the numbers, maybe 25 people a year killed in school shootings. 40,000 a year killed in autos.
After 9/11 people avoided flying, they drove, thousands more were killed, traffic fatalities went up.
Traffic kills more than homicide and suicide combined. School is a statistically safe place to be, the ride to and from is a much bigger danger. It is still low.
Not to put you off on cars and school buses, we all ride, but there is always risk in life.
Truely high risk for a human is going to the bathroom at home, slipped, fell, hit head, died, is downright common. The bathroom kills more that mad shooters at schools and malls, terrorists, plane crashes, and another half dozen causes of sudden death that people fear, but our needs overcome our fears. Got to go.
One of the leading causes of death in a non-sudden way is French Fries, they cause all sorts of conditions that result in death. Millions a year die of French Fries.
Lightning strikes one in 250,000, that is 1200 a year, not all die. When I was out west it was a leading cause of cattle deaths. I am old, in my time people spoke of the herd stampeading through camp, it never happened.
Your town has one High School? That is a small and isolated place, not much chance of having a fist fight during the year. These things do not happen in small town America, my kid goes to one, two kids have died in the first six months of driving. That is a real and high risk, one in a couple of hunderd.
Going to school and flying on planes are both safer than staying at home. That bathroom, wet floors, people getting careless, are the big home danger, do not run in the shower.
The false alarms will pass, but the real dangers will continue, use it to get an idea of the real numbers, the real risks, and you will see that the bathroom, and the first year of driving a car, are the big hazards in your life. Most fatal auto accidents are within a mile of home when coming or going. Just woke up, tired after a long day, very familer with the area, all lead to doing something dumb and fatal.
Aspurgers produces very conservative drivers. Who else comes to a full stop at stop signs, looks both ways before crossing anything, and plans their route before leaving home?
You will be just fine, you will feel your feelings, work it out, and all the other kids will do the same. Years pass between events like this, it is in the past and should be left there, I avoid the news, it annoys me to hear about things just meant to stir my emotions. They give me a headache, then sell pain killers.
It is more likely a flying sacuer will land in your yard and ask for help with repairs, tell them I said, Hi!
19 Apr 2007, 9:23 pm
