Fear

I recently had a patient who had been in a rather dramatic bicycle accident. I was his nurse during the final stages of the convalescence period in hospital. At this point he had had time to reflect upon the accident. This accident had left him with a broken hip, so reasonably severe. As I had also had a bike accident as of late we had a good time commiserating about our injuries. I shared how my helmet had a crack from such a pathetic accident so I asked how his had made out.

And... he wasn't wearing one. Apparently, he doesn't prescribe to the 'fear mentality' of wearing helmets. He feels motorists are actually safer around people who are not wearing helmets. He feels they do more harm than good in an accident...personally I didn't agree with his argument against helmets but the conversation evolved into a discussion on fear, and paranoia that causes us to build walls, forgo trust,  and prevent community.  As he was in his 60's he personally lamented the fall of hitchhiking. I shared now some might feel I am naive but I feel most people are basically good, how I have no fear encountering strangers on the trail while running alone.

Thus, i was disheartened to read of something as simple the fear of a bike being stolen in Hanover. A bike lock wasn't good enough. They felt the tire had to removed as well. This is not a $500 bike, nor even a $100 bike. Sure it is important to them but worth the trouble of removing the wheel? I call that fear.


The picture is of the Bruce Trail near Owen Sound.