I grew up in very dangerous times. As a child forty years ago I did all manner of things that placed my life and limb in peril. It’s amazing that I, and my classmates, are here today. (By the way, I’m not alone in this belief)
From the age of six we walked to and from school every day, six or eight or ten blocks, even crossing streets. We had no idea whatsover that there were predators lurking in the bushes, careening automobiles flying around every corner, and that we were surrounded by all manner of lesser hazards.
Nowadays parents not only drive their kids to school, they sit and watch until the kid is inside the door.
Adults too believe that their entire life should be risk free. They want their food (and their pet’s food) to be certified organic and free of trans fats, additives, MSG, preservatives, and whatever else the TV newsmagazines tell them to fear.
They want all public facilities to be entirely risk free, or at least to have warning signs for every conceivable action that might cause injury.
Coffee cups now offer a warning that they contain hot coffee, and every menu makes sure that you understand, really understand, that there just may be some tiny bit of peanut somewhere in some dish.
Accidents don’t happen anymore. In my youth if you tripped and fell, or broke an arm playing baseball, you would call it an “accident” and move on. Hopefully you would have learned not to repeat your mistake.
Now the first response to a simple accident is to complain that the building owner of host had failed to anticipate and eliminate the specific risk that led to your spill. Yes, I am supposed to figure out every possible dumb or clumsy thing that you might do, and then make sure that you don’t do it.
Corporations also assume no risk under any circumstance. Budget/Ryder truck rentals in the U.S. specifically do NOT guarantee that their trucks are legal or road worthy. Many communications companies force you to agree to a lengthy licence agreement that essentially says that they promise nothing, and that you will never hold them responsible if they don’t deliver what you contracted for.
Every public building includes signs warning that they are not responsible for you, your car that is parked in the lot outside, your clothes and wallet that are locked in a locker at their gym, or for health problems arising from their cafeteria.
Is the world more dangerous than it was forty years ago? Are there more sexual predators, more risks of injury? Is coffee hotter?
Of course not. If anything our everyday activities are an order of magnitude safer than they were when I was a child. Toys alone have improved by leaps and bounds in terms of safety – I remember toy cars made from sheet metal with sharp edges and little metal tabs that invariably cut my fingers – and there was a time when auto seat belts were, well, just a strange new idea.
What has changed is not the level of risk that we face, but the perception of risk, and more importantly what is considered an acceptable level of risk.
Over the last twenty years the media has fed us an endless stream of stories about risks in our environment, always with the unstated assumption that any risk is a bad thing, and that we should not have to accept those risks.
Once the big dangers had been dealt with they began warning us about increasingly trivial things – making news stories out of stuff that previously would have been written off as “one of those things.”
Which leads us to the point where no risk is acceptable, where people demand that all risk be removed from their life, and insist that responsibility for their well being rests with everyone but themselves.
This leads to warnings on coffee cups, contracts that allow corporations to promise nothing, and businesses that disallow perfectly reasonable activities because of the fear of lawsuits.
Again, I return to the question of acceptable risk. I run, with a dog on a leash, and in the woods. I could trip or be pulled off the edge of the cliff at anytime.
I could insist that the Conservation authority put up fences along the trail, or could refuse to let the dog come along with me, but I measure this as an acceptable risk.
In fact the more that I’ve thought about this in the last couple of weeks the more I’ve concluded that I need more risk, not less. We all do.
You see we’ve all become so afraid of risk, so afraid a million things that just possibly could hurt us that we’ve stopped living life. We work in climate controlled buildings, making money for RRSPs that will protect us in our old age, go from work to air conditioned cars with five star crash ratings, to our homes in gated communities or security controlled condo developments.
What does that do to culture? It breeds fear, and it makes all of us susceptible to the warnings of self appointed Experts who use that fear to keep us in line.
So instead of trying to avoid any and every risk, it’s time for each person to decide what is an acceptable level of risk.
Do you only do things with a 1 to a million chance of killing you?
1 in a half million?
1 in a thousand?
Take some time tonight to watch some Celebrity Poker. The winners don’t play it safe, they calculate the risks, and bet accordingly.
And sometimes they just plain bluff.
Years ago I went to chef’s school. Rule number one was wash your hands! Lots! Frequently!
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One recent post really struck a chord with me. I think it came from Godin, but since I can’t find it don”t quote me.
Risk seems to be the 
At the same time that a generation of 
