Joe Joseph
A colleague cycles to work without wearing a helmet. This upsets me, not
just because I'm fond of him and would hate to see him injured, but because
I think it is reckless - to himself, his family and to the NHS, which would
have to pick up the bill to fix him. Do I have any right to be upset?
Your workmate is a fool. But the world is full of fools. We are surrounded
by fools. Often we choose to surround ourselves with fools because fools
make bright company.
In an age in which governments interfere so much in our private lives that
we have come to assume that such snooping and meddling must be their natural
prerogative, it is important to remind ourselves constantly that people have
a right to do themselves a mischief without worrying about the approval or
disapproval of their fellow citizens - providing that what they are doing is
not illegal. But even here things get hazy: what is, and is not, legal is
not the result of some divine edict (except in the case of the Ten
Commandments, obviously). An act that we today deem illegal is often just an
act that was commonplace before being buried under centuries of
disapproval - sometimes, rightly so; sometimes puritanically so (this
process also works in reverse, as acts once deemed punishable, such as
homosexuality, cease to be so).
Governments walk a tightrope between protecting us and overprotecting us.
Should they warn us not to drink too much, or impose legal limits?
Discourage fatty foods and smoking, or ban them? We should be at liberty to
exercise free will; even at the cost of our own health. Otherwise who would
climb Everest, or ski off-piste? And if a skier can expect the NHS to fix
his broken leg, then why not a cyclist with a broken head? Even if the head
belongs to a fool?
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Just for Info !
Fred