AdventureDad

Since we travel a lot we have seen much, but not enough, of this world and been through more than most.  But it always surprises me that people are so afraid of terrorism.  It’s clear that most people are unable to think in a rational  way and evaluate what is dangerous and what isn’t.  A survery released by some researchers from  New Zealand point out some interesting but obvious conclusions. A quick recap:

– In 2001 as many people died every 26 days on American roads as died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11

– The body count from road accidents in developed economies is 390 times higher than the death toll in these countries from international terrorism

– My personal favorite comparison (not in the article)  is that roughly 20 000 people die each year in U.S from drunk driving related road accidents.

I lived in NYC for many years and loved it.  It’s one amazing place.  I was there during 9/11 and saw the World Trade Center from my office windows.  When the buildings came down we stayed at work most of the day and then calmly walked home.  My company already had emergency plans that kicked in immediately so an office in another country took care of all our business for the next few days.  We were offered to stay home as long as we wanted and given plenty of support.  The day after 9/11 I put on my suit, took the subway, and showed up for work earlier than usual with Foxy Wife next to me.  She went to donate blood and then tried to spend her day as normal as possible.  It  was an easy decision to make. It was in pure protest against all these fucking useless pathetic terrorists who believe  what they do should have a large impact on people. 

Fortunately I realized very quickly that although almost three thousand people died on 9/11 it was still a relatively small amount of people.  Don’t mis-read that and believe that I dishonor the people who died that day.  I’m not saying the event was insignificant and I’m definitely not saying the people shouldn’t be honored. And of course the tragedy had enormous other political, emotional, and personal complications as well.  That day was extremely tragic but  my point has always been that in a large perspective the amount of people that died was fairly small.   I’m not sure why people are unable to comprehend this and why the people that should be least afraid are actually the ones most frightened.  In the weeks after 9/11 people on Manhattan were calm and tried to get back to normal while still grieving.  But the people in the most remote places somehow managed to freak out massively.  People in Iowa were buying duck tape to protect themselves from Anthrax.  In Kentucky they were buying weapons like crazy to protect themselves from some unknown enemy.  Perhaps aliens?  People in Nebraska were stocking up on canned foods and water so they could last a year in their bomb proof basement if they had to. (No offense meant towards these states).  There are thousands of these stupid examples.  Many tried telling these people that the risk of terrorism in these places is as close to zero as possible but no one listened.  Terrorists don’t know about these places and don’t care either.  They are insignificant in the big picture.  Still, these people were flapping like salmons in a stream.  Why can’t people look at danger from a more mature, rational  way?

I took a flight from NYC to Mexico a few weeks after 9/11.  It was on of my best flights ever.  It was excellent and still much safer than getting into my car for a trip to the grocery store. Why don’t people realize that the risk of flying is less than most daily things we do?  Every year roughly 20 000 people die from drunk driving in U.S.  That’s not a mis-print.  And that’s not including regular traffic.  Only drunk driving.  Don’t even check how many are murdered, raped, or die of heart attack each year.  But people seem unwilling to look at these simple figures and tell themselves that perhaps terrorism is not that dangerous.  There is no reason to buy a gas mask, duck tape, and build a bunker in Kansas when there is terrorism in NYC. 

Don’t let terrorists decide what you do in your life.  Don’t panic.  There is no reason to freak out when a bomb goes off somewhere.  The world can be a scary place but the chance of something happening is still extremely small.  Keep that in mind the next time something terrible happens.

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