Forget vanity

[pecunium]

Natasha Richardson is dead. It was, probably, preventable.

1:Wear a helmet. Right there, she probably walks away from it. You may think helmets make you look silly. You may think they make you look scared. You may think they make you look less than completely competent.

Who cares? Really, why should you care?

I ride horses. I wear a helmet. I ride a bicycle. I wear a helmet. When I ride in a military vehicle, I wear a helmet. When I do technical climbing on live rock, I wear a helmet. When I rappel, I wear a helmet.

When I've fallen off of horses, and bicycles, and rocks... I've been lucky enough to only need to replace the helmet. It's pretty cruel of me. My friends and family miss out on the chance to visit me in hospital. I don't get to become an activist for those who are paralyzed; going before Congress to argue for more research.

You know what else they miss out on? My early death.

All I do is stimulate the economy by spending the money for another helmet; and providing more data to the manufacturers, so they can improve them (if your helmet maker does a deal, where they sell you a replacement at a reduced rate for returns of damaged helmets, do it. If they don't, send it to them anyway).


The second thing which was done wrong was to refuse medical attention.

Head injuries are deceptive. One can feel fine, and have a depressed fracture. The blood build pressure on the brain until, all of a sudden one falls down and dies. A concussion can be similarly fatal, hours after the injury. If you see stars, think about seeing a doctor. If you were traveling faster than your legs can propel, don't think about it, do it.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Mary, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I've done those things. I've been helping my father deal with the after-effects of his MTBI (which wasn't properly treated in the aftermath, so some things are worse than they ought to be). I've head friends die of things which ought to have been prevented.

I've sat through the briefings when a first sergeant, at the end of a long AT let a young soldier drive the Humvee, and didn't make sure the kid was wearing his helmet. They both fell asleep, the humvee rolled. The kid died.

I wasn't trivialising it. I was trying to make it sting a little. I do want people who choose to not wear a helmet to think about the things that risk might cause their family to have to do.

It was meant to be a little mean.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Thanks I get where you're coming from, but you're not just addressing people who've chosen not to wear a helmet, so you're being mean a little indiscriminately. The post doesn't talk about your own experiences of loss--you state that you never make this particular mistake, and then turn glib when you invoke the pain you & your loved ones have avoided.

Most of the people I know who have died could be said to have brought it on themselves, either through poor health management, poor risk management, poor dating choices, addiction, or suicide. I understand the tendency of people to feel superior to those who have died or ruined their lives, but it makes me very uncomfortable. And I don't really think you're that kind of guy, which is why I brought it up.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

It's a difference in perception. I no longer make that choice. I don't do it because 1: I'd rather not end up crippled (dead is another issue. I like living, I don't know what dead is like. I'm willing to put off finding out).

I chose to be flip. I could have made a plea, mentioning all the people I know (or knew) who suffered as a result of people not wearing helmets. I didn't think it effective.

People get that story all the time. The catalyst for this post was just such a story. People don't think that way. They recall being a kid, and not wearing a helmet. They know they've not been in an accident.

They misestimate consequences and risks. I know they do that. I do that (no longer with helmets, but I do things which are fundamentally dangerous). They do that despite all the appeals to their sense of self-protection.

So I didn't make it about that. I didn't make it about me. I made it about the people they care about. It wasn't the most pleasant way to do it (and it's not an issue of superior. I stayed in the army, a decidely high-risk profession, in peace and in war. I did it because it pleased me to do so. I did it knowing it pained people who loved me. It was much like wearing a helmet), but I thought it more likely to get the message across than the more friendly version.

I am not always a nice person.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're always a nice person--neither am I. I'm not saying you should be. I'm just questioning your usually-expert marksmanship on this occasion. If you had said "have to" instead of "get to" I think it would have been right on target, although it still would make me, personally, uncomfortable. (Which would be fine.)