Irrational Creatures- People

Not that it matters, but now I don’t know if what snow we got last night will qualify for a “white Christmas” or not. If the sun shines much tomorrow, it won’t be on the ground come Sunday. We only got a ‘dusting’ and part of that melted today from an intense sun, even though it remained cold. Instead of a “Brown Christmas” or a “White Christmas”, we might have a “mixed bag” with a few spots ‘whitish’ and the rest brown. Maybe everyone can be happy then!


Weather patterns aside, it is a fact that millions of Americans will be traveling this weekend. I hope those on the road with me, will be paying attention to driving and not ’texting’ or otherwise doing distracting things that, not only puts themselves in danger, but also puts me in danger! According to the ’ladies’ who ride with me, we are in plenty of danger without anyone else’s help, just because I’m driving. Why is it that some folks are so ‘excitable’ over little things, like looking off into the woods and heading for the ditch? Don’t they know I will be able to “feel the drop”, if I actually leave the pavement? Then, presumably, I would come out of my “coma” and very gently get back on the roadway. I say “very gently” because the worst thing one can do if the leave the road is to “jerk” the wheel to get back on the pavement. That is called “overcorrecting” and could lead to a loss of control and bad consequences.

This reminds me that people in general are irrational creatures. There are lots of people who would not dream of doing some activity because they deem it “dangerous”, but think nothing about getting in an automobile and driving down the road at 60 MPH within a few feet of cars coming in the opposite direction at a comparable speed. Now that is “dangerous living”! It all comes down to the fact that we get “used” to something and lose our “fear” of it, when in reality it is far more dangerous drive on the road than doing almost any form of “dangerous sports”.

I, like many people, don’t like to fly on airplanes. I am not particularly ‘afraid’ to fly, I just don’t like it. But as far as safety is concerned, flying has a better record than driving. I think. It is rather hard to get good statistics, simply because the numbers of people on the roadways are overwhelming compared to those who are flying at any given time. It is true that when an airplane “falls from the sky” and takes the lives of a couple hundred people, it makes major news headlines. I have not seen a daily “tally” of the number of people killed daily on the highways of our country. I suspect it would be staggering to know the facts, as well as discouraging. But that is our way of life and we don’t often think about it, but do be careful if you are out and about and I will certainly try to do the same.

Speaking of “irrational”. As I stated, I don’t like flying on airplanes, but I would like to, just once, skydive. As in, ’jump out of an airplane’. My wife says there is something “loose in my head”, for she knows I don’t like to even cross a high bridge, but yet, there is something compelling about the ideal of floating from the sky, like a bird, that I find inviting. But like many things we “think about doing”, I have never gotten serious enough to actually just go pay what it would cost and jump from a plane. Maybe someday I will just do it and tell my wife later. I think that is what she as told me in the past, she would rather hear about it after the fact. And I wanted her to get a picture of me landing. J

Unless something comes up “interesting”, like WW III or such, this blog will likely be quiet for a few days over Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!