Now that I am occasionally back on a motorcycle, I am getting the regular reminders from friends and acquaintances of how dangerous motorcycling is and v Always, these brilliant and insightful comments come from people who either have never ridden a motorcycle or, worse, have had a friend or relative who crashed and died or was maimed for life. I am, of course, totally happy to receive these ill-formed anecdotes of death and destruction and enlightened by their low opinion of my judgement and skills.
If you know me at all, you might know I’ve been struggling with a basement bathroom installation all winter and some of last fall. Plumbing and me are in no way on friendly terms. I’m not that fond of construction carpentry, either. I am, more than anything cheap and picky about how things are done on my property, so I generally turn everything into a DIY project that I will hate before, during, and after the project is completed. It is just who I am. The point of bringing up this piece of recent and on-going history is that I have smashed and nearly sawn or clipped off fingers, bunged-up my knees and shoulders and back, and experienced a collection of minor and near-disastrous injuries during this damn construction project and not one person has commented on how I could maim various parts of my marginally repairable body working on my damn house. Maybe one out of ten of these people will say something about my working on the roof of my house, even. Dying to keep a roof from leaking or to stop a spouse from bitching is socially acceptable and, probably, even expected. But riding a motorcycle is just an unreasonably dangerous risk. .
4 comments:
Excuse my inner mirth Thomas but my wife (and neighbours come to that) are far more concerned about me plunging off our roof than they are about my safety when riding a motorcycle. Perhaps that's a vote of confidence that I take riding seriously :-) . I try and visit the roof on an annual basis to ensure that it remains in good order but can't say that I enjoy the experience. Perhaps there should be proficiency training for that task too.
I'm particularly fond of the "My sibling/parent/cousin/some guy on a bus/beagle works in an ER, so I hear all sorts of stories about how everyone on a motorcycle is going to have a horrible accident" variety. I mean, yes, it's dangerous, but if the only interaction you have with riders is as an ER surgeon...
Your "inner mirth" is one of my favorite things about you. There is no excuse necessary. Sounds like your wife are neighbours are more conscious of actual risk than mine.
Life at 73 is pretty much on the fuckin' edge just getting out of bed in the morning. My ophthalmologist added about 10 minutes to my last visit wanting to know what kind of motorcycle he should buy. He's a competitive mountain biker so, it seemed almost obvious to me. He didn't say a word about my risk.
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