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Safety First



Several times over the past week or so people have told me, “Have a safe day!” Not a nice day, not a great day, not even a good day. I was told to have a “safe” day. Now, living in AK, it’s one thing if it’s particularly icy outside and someone says, “Be safe out there!” I get it. But, “Have a safe day”? When did that become an acceptable salutation?

I realize these people were just trying to be friendly, but I think it may be indicative of a larger issue: the exaggerated importance we place on safety. Back when I was a kid (yes, I’m old enough to say that now), I used to play with knives and matches, and I am pretty sure the sole reason my parents had so many offspring is they figured not all of us would make it. Our childhood was basically a process for weeding out the weak and unfit. Now kids wear helmets at playgrounds and eat blended food because oatmeal is too much of a choking hazard.

Just to be clear, I am not advocating recklessness at all. And while I agree safety should be a key consideration of a process, it is not the process. It can never be the objective. Safety is important, but it is a tactic, an aspect of a greater mission. It is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Safety always has a cost. Sometimes it’s worth the cost, sometimes it isn’t. But if safety ever becomes the objective – an end in and of itself – you will lose the ability to effectively count the cost of safety.

What are you giving up to be “safe”?

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