It’s fair game to make fun of nervous nellies who protect their kids too much but I just got an email passalong from a relative that has me seething. The full email is after the jump but it’s basically a funny list of all the dangerous things we did as kids.

“First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant….
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints….
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats , seat belts or air bags…..”

After going through a full list of hazards we survived, the email concludes:

“We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good “

It concludes with a Jay Leno joke that makes a political and religiouis point:

“‘With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another,and with the threat of bird
flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance ?’
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us…go ahead and delete this.”

There’s a rather glaring logical flaw. By definition, if you’re reading this email then you didn’t die in a car accident. But that doesn’t mean that literally millions of people weren’t saved by car safety efforts.
Last year roughly 41,000 people died in auto crashes. But the fatality rate is 90% lower than it was in 1925 — and miles travelled is ten times higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control. By my back-of-the-envelope calculation, that means that if we had the same safety sensibility now that we did before the government and the lawyers got involved, we’d have about 444,000 auto fatalities this year instead of 41,000.

And that says nothing of the people who have been saved because of regulation of lead paint, fetal alcohol syndrome etc.
So perhaps we could a) have a bit of empathy for the people not alive enough to read the email and b) understand that the safety regulations have prevented literally millions of deaths — maybe even including you or a loved one.
As for the theological point, that we don’t need health and safety precautions because God is watching over us, it reminds me of this joke.
Full passalong below the jump.

> THOSE BORN 1920-1979
> READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR QUOTE OF THE MONTH BY JAY LENO. IF
> YOU DON’T READ ANYTHING ELSE—VERY WELL STATED
>
> TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s, 40’s,
> 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!
>
> First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
> drank while they were pregnant.
>
> They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a
> can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes .
>
> Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies
> in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based
> paints.
>
> We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles,
> doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no
> helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
>
> As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no
> car seats, booster seats , seat belts or air bags.
>
> Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a
> special treat.
>
> We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
>
>
> We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle
> and NO ONE actually died from this.
>
> We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank
> Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight
> because,
>
> WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
>
> We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as
> long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
>
> No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK.
>
> We would spend hours building our go-carts out of
> scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we
> forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few
> times, we learned to solve the problem.
>
> We did not have Playstations, Nintendo ‘s, X-boxes,
> no video games at all,no 150 channels on cable, no video
> movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no
> cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or
> chatrooms…….
>
> WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
>
> We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and
> there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
>
> We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did
> not live in us forever.
>
> We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up
> games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told
> it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
>
> We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked
> on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked
> to them!
>
> Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
> Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with
> disappointment. Imagine that!!
>
> The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was
> unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
>
> These generations have produced some of the best
> risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
>
> The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and
> new ideas.
>
> We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we
> learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
>
> If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> You might want to share this with others who have had
> the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the
> government regulated so much of our lives for our own good
> .
>
> While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will
> know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
>
> Kind of makes you want to run through the house with
> scissors, doesn’t it?!
>
> The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
>
> ‘With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control,
> mud slides, flooding,severe thunderstorms tearing up the
> country from one end to another,and with the threat of bird
> flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time
> to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance ?’
>
> For those that prefer to think that God is not watching
> over us…go ahead and delete this.
>
> For the rest of us…pass this ON!