My older sister chickened out of tubing last weekend. She took one look at the people careening down the steep, snowy hill in inner tubes and decided she couldn't do it.
"Dude, kids do this," I told her, pointing out a gang of 4 year olds.
"That's because kids don't know their own mortality," she said.
So she stayed at the top of the hill, watching, while the rest of us tubed. She had lots of company, too — I spotted several parents and siblings sitting it out. After 45 minutes of loud pleading, one little boy finally convinced his 40-something dad to (reluctantly) give it a try.
It made me think about the fairly safe things that fill us with terror — roller coaster rides, giant bugs, the comedian Carrot Top — and all of the actually dangerous things that don't.
Most of us drive cars daily, even though there's a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a car accident in the United States. Almost everyone knows that using tanning beds can up your skin cancer risk, but there's apparently enough demand to keep three tanning salons busy in my neighborhood alone. And, as anyone who works in insurance or financial planning knows, too many Americans are un- or under-insured, and even more aren't saving nearly enough for old age.
