Follow
A hurricane of historic proportions passed through our community and the way people responded is an interesting study of human nature assessing and managing risk.
A friend of ours is a officer for a local township. On the day before the hurricane was forecast to hit our area he was called to a nearby grocery store to respond to to a fight. When he arrived the fight was still verbal but it was of an intensity that alerted the store’s employees to send for help.
The subject of the argument was the last case of bottled water.
Our friend looked on in disbelief for a moment, then took out his pocketknife and cut the case of water down the center.
“Who want’s to check out first?” he asked and added; “I will be paying for the water, so let’s go get this settled.”
The threat of a storm or heavy snowfall in our area seems to throw some folks into a panic. They descend on grocery stores and buy bread and water as if those were talismans that would keep then safe.
Fear is a useful emotional response at times but it should inform and not control our responses to risk. When we don’t assess risk soberly and thoughtfully our actions will do little to mitigate the risks involved.
Dealing with risks is a continuous challenge for Scout leaders. Scouts do challenging, potentially dangerous activities. We can’t totally eliminate risk, nor do we want to. We do want to manage risk intelligently.
Um, with heavy snowfall, just scoop up some snow. Who needs bottled water?