Is it Better to Be Safe or Dead?

As many of you know, I am here in Breckenridge, Colorado for a month – skiing, writing and doing work. Oh yeah, and I try to get a little relaxation in whenever possible.

You know that my blog is about how you can live your best possible life. Even though I generally focus on eating properly, exercise, and happiness, anything I can help you with to make your life fantastic is fair game here. Right?

I wanted to talk to you a little today about some things I have noticed here on the mountain. Three crazy things that people are doing (or are not doing).

1. I cannot believe that anyone would ski without a ski helmet. All it takes is one fall, a collision with a tree or a pole, or an out of control skier running into you when you are minding your own business. If any of these happen, you could be dead. Why risk it? Are you too cool to wear a helmet? Are you too good of a skier or rider? Probably not the case as the instructors and racers all wear them! It just leaves one possibility. You think you are immortal. Well let me tell you something – you are not! And you know what I can’t stand? When I see kids wearing helmets but their parents are not. What kind of a message does that send? (When I grow up I want to be just like my daddy and not have to wear a helmet.) Come on my friend, I want to see you enjoy your next birthday!

2. Why do you refuse to lower the safety bar on the chairlift? First, a little primer for non-skiers. There is a little chair we sit in that carries us up the mountain. Well, it’s not really little! Generally it seats two to eight skiers in a row. The ski resorts make sure these chairs have a safety bar that we can lower to prevent any of us from taking a fall out of the chair when we are riding ten feet to hundreds of feet above the earth’s surface. It is very similar to the bar they lower when you ride a roller coaster or any other amusement park ride. A slip or a fall out of the chair would mean certain death. Again, are some of you just too cool to lower the bar? Is it too much trouble? Please tell me the negatives… I want to know!

3. Why do you insist on skiing totally out of control? Please listen to me you out of control skier! Do you realize if you had to stop or if something got in the way, you could not stop? I see you skiing every day. Yeah, you are fast but that does not mean you are good or in control. I see that look on your face as you speed down the mountain. The look of terror. The look on your face says “I hope this steep hill flattens out soon so I can stop.”  So why do you do it? How would you feel if a little kid skied in your path and you killed him or her because you were showing off and couldn’t stop?  Is the rest of your life also totally out of control?

Does it sound like I am frustrated? Well yes, in a way I am. Most people are really good when it comes to their safety and the safety of others around them. But just like trying to eat right, exercising, stopping smoking, etc., we all know we SHOULD do these things, but we don’t all do them.

Look, I know we all can’t be perfect. If we were all perfect, I would not have a job! But I beg of you, whether you are skiing, bicycling, swimming, walking, skating, golfing, going to the gym, driving, horseback riding… there are always precautions we must take. Please be smart. I realize there are no guarantees. I don’t know about you but when I play the odds with my life, I want to see them stacked in my favor!

So I end this blog today as I begun. Is it better to be safe or dead?