Plausible Deniability
The Sanity of
Ignorance.
How much danger do we ignore every day?
How much denial is just a sane response to the realities of everyday
life?
Occasionally I will see
an article about the statistics of danger - you are probably familiar with this
sort of thing: the odds of getting struck by lightning as compared to something
else, the odds of being injured or killed in a car crash vs. airline travel.
One thing I know from having lived in the DC area during the "sniper" attacks:
living in constant fear is both exhausting and debilitating. I can't even begin
to imagine what it must be like to live in a war zone. I know this, and I am
grateful that I may (at least so far) live in such ignorance. October 2002 was
bad enough. Running in zig-zag lines to the grocery store was a reasonable
thing to do in those days. Walking the dog made me feel like an ambulatory
target.
In the middle of that
month, when Malvo and Muhammad were in the midst of their sick, steady prowl
around our region, John and I took a trip up to Northern Maine. Flying into
Manchester, NH we rented a car and made the long drive up to Mt. Desert Island.
We talked and relaxed and shook off our everyday life as we drove, knowing we
had a few days without the worries of the workaday world. Just before we
reached the causeway to the island, NPR aired a report on the sniper attacks.
Suddenly, the fear and dread that had built up over the prior days and weeks
surged back into my body and I realized what I had been living with. The
steady, mounting water-torture drip of paranoia was bad enough, but to have it
all return in a rush was
horrible.
I know bad things
will happen again. I know that I will see and feel pain and fear. I also know
that ignorance can be sweet, sweet bliss.
Posted: Thursday - June 09, 2005 at 09:07 AM
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