Use a spotter when gardening

A coworker of mine said that one night she went outside to turn on the sprinklers to water some plants. Her father-in-law screamed out of the door, "What are you doing?!" to which she rightfully screamed back, "I'm watering the lawn!" He became unglued. "It's after dark, you could get kidnapped!"

Since she doesn't live in Iraq or Mexico City are we to think that his worries were unfounded? Yes. Yes we are. However, I bet that we all have some kind of fear that isn't based on any rational examination of facts and statistical chance. Like I'm afraid that if I go out in the woods at night, then a serial murderer who just escaped from a nearby prison will kill me. Needless to say, I don't go out into the woods at night that often. I mean, if it was 10:00 p.m. and I had a hankering to do some jogging through the woods, I would probably just run through the ghetto part of downtown instead.

I am of the opinion that many things which we read, especially interesting or dramatic stories of unfairness and misfortune that end in tragedy, lead us to be unduly prejudiced about certain activities or locations or people. We don't have the time to really do a lot of statistical research and find out the odds of actually getting murdered by someone who asks for directions or falling into a sinkhole on the way to the bank or accidentally marrying the twin who was separated from you at birth. We just heard that it actually happened to someone somewhere, so we should watch out! How is it possible we can bring ourselves to go out into the world, with all of its exploding sewer mains, falling meteors, and foreigners trying to kill us? If all of our neuroses were acted upon, we would likely develop vitamin D deficiencies as a result of being holed up in our cellar.

My old law schoolin' roommate knows all too well about this. I would pester him constantly about wild scenarios where a normal innocent person finds themselves in this extremely unlikely situation where he or she gets the death sentence for asking for a subway map at the wrong place and the wrong time. His wise response was, "Yep, you take a risk every time you wake up." That was more than just a way to get me to shut up and leave him to study, it is something in which we can take solace. Life isn't guaranteed to be happy or long for any of us, so we should accept that an go about our lives as if the woods weren't filled with vicious convicts with shanks and teardrop tattoos.

We all assume the risks of life with every breath we take. Whether it is buying stamps or navigating the Congo, life can be surprising and unfortunate. However, we can't let that stop us from living the way we want. But if you live in Iraq or Mexico City, you probably shouldn't water your lawn at night.