on 8/10/2007 11:11 AM Bill said the following:
The problem I see with accidents and the young people around here, is they
do not want to follow rules. Any rules!

The respect they get from their friends grows with the severity of the
accidents they have. The worse the accident, the more "respect" they get
from their "friends".

Their thinking is: Don't read any rules. Don't follow any rules. Do the
opposite!

What they don't understand is that many rules/laws are in place to protect
THEM. This is advice handed down from others who have had accidents or by a
community which wants to prevent such accidents from occurring in the
future.

I'm talking about safety rules in the front of instruction manuals, OSHA
rules, driving laws/rules, building code rules, etc.

No one ever thinks about WHY rules/laws were created in the first place. Why
it says to wear safety goggles. Why there is a speed limit. Why you should
wear a safety harness when working high up. Etc.

Actually these rules/laws are a detailed history of accidents which have
happened in the past. So when it says to wear eye protection, this is
because someone has used that piece of equipment in the past and had an eye
injury. Or the electrical code says to do your wiring in a certain manner -
well someone died in the past or was electrocuted because the wiring was not
done in this manner.

So these young people can start their lives by reading and following
rules/laws. Or they can place their lives in the hands of Darwin... (In my
area, Darwin has claimed the lives of 3 young people already this summer.)
Needless...

All kids are immortal and immune to things that happen to other people.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @