Straight Roads Riskier than Zigzags?
At times, some stark realities in life seem to defy logic and conventional wisdom. If via viva voce we come to a vote if straight lines are riskier than zigzags, surely we will end up with more Nays than Ayes. So, how do we extricate ourselves from this convoluted thinking ?
As in life, almost everyone thought that leading lives via a straight line is the way to go. Less tricky. Lesser risks. Least pitfalls. Whereas imagine life that goes into motion via the zigzag roads ? Each time you turn the next corner, there seems to be surprises right at your very nose.
Now, for a quick revisit of casualties in driving. Would you believe there are ten times more ‘horror stories’ of fatal accidents in straight-ahead roads compared to road mishaps along zigzagging roads ? Now, it’s our turn to reinforce the disparity behind this statistical improbability.
In life and even in driving, once you are along the freeways, you can enable the pseudo ‘auto pilot’ mode of your SUV as you ‘take a break’ while coasting along, enjoying the vastness of the countryside at either side of the highways. In those moments, you tend to lose your guard, taking a respite before you get your second wind. And this is what exactly happens in our lives when we are so cocky, so cocksure of things that everything seems to be a ‘walk in the park’ until…….....…. something fatal happens [and knocks off the wind from us].
Whereas when we drive along the zigzag roads, aren’t we more cautious, more calculating, more in control of every single reflex. In life, once we get into the ‘unknown’, we don’t go full throttle. Instead, our self-discipline tells us to mitigate all the risks we face from all sides, all vantages of our exposure.
At hindsight, would we be better off if we live our lives in a world of zigzags devoid of those straight-line freeways ? Absolutely ! Let’s take a leaf from Robin Skynner’s book ‘LIFE and how to SURVIVE IT’ because we exist not just to sleep, wakeup and survive.
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