Sign in Romania warning motorists of drunks in the road.
Problem
Some people are cautious. Some invite trouble.
I am the cautious sort. As a mother, a parent, a teacher, or a meeting organizer, you may find yourself resposible for the safety of others. As the road signs say: The life you save may be your own.
Home
Dangers are all around. Most accidents happen at home, because that's where most people spend more time. The most vulnerable people, babies and the elderly, spend more time at home.
Burns
Burns survivor Dorah, now Dorah Jones, was burned by a falling candle in South Africa when she was only 6 months old. She lost her sight and hands. She was later adopted by Bronwen Jones, who worked tirelessly to help Dorah and other visctims and prevent futher accidents. Bronwen founded Children of Fire in 1996, a non-profit organization educating communities on preventing fire-related accidents, and offers healthcare to those injured in fires.
Sight, Survivors, Feeling
At Toastmasters International at a meeting in Singapore I had to make an impromptu two-minute speech on whether I would prefer to lose my sight or hearing. I chose to retain sight. However, it is uplifting to learn that even without hands and eyes you can still find pleasure in life.
Dorah, who lives in Pinner in North West London, in the UK, enjoys walking to Pinner Park Farm. I remember reading how Helen Keller wrote of the pleasures of walking on grass and the sand on the beach. Dorah likes collecting wildflowers, perhaps feeling the petals, sometimes smelling the scents.
She likes to listen to birdsong and her children laughing.
She also likes stroking farmyard animals. She can rest her forearm and cheek against the side of a horse and feel its warmth, its softness, its heartbeat. Helen Keller used to enjoy hugging her dog.
Home Safety
What about safety in your daily life? At home, if you stand on a ladder you might fall off - if you have not prepared and the ladder is not secured. If I am alone and have to change a light bulb, I put pillows on the floor and cushions against walls and radiators in case I fall. And a biscuit and bottle of water beside me in case I should fall and need sustenance. I phone a family member to say what I am doing and keep a charged phone in my pocket.
Travel Safety
Motorists on long journeys, hikers and climbers also take precautions which sound similar. Food and drink, checking the situation at the destination, telling others where you are going and when you will be back, where possible travelling with somebody else, somebody reliable.
Seeing Weapons and Avoiding Trouble
If you see somebody with a weapon, keep away, don't attack them. Around your own city or a foreign city, if you walk towards a soldier with a gun, even push a guard, or obstruct them, you might get arrested, injured, or shot. A woman stood in front of a guard at Windosr in England. She learned the hard way that he was not stopping.
She apparently thought her photo was more important than his work of parading and protecting the area. He apparently thoght his job was to parade and protect the perimeter of the royal castle, not get distracted by tourists taking photos - or any potential attempt to invade beyond a barrier and distract him by pretending to take photos. The Americans have a saying: don't take a knife to a gunfight.
Snakes and Bears
When hiking, if you walk in the outdoors in a snake area, you might encounter a snake. Mothers usually protect their offspring. This applies to both humans and animals including bears.
Most other humans and animals are not altruistic but think of defending themselves first. Fight first, ask questions later. You might apologise if you step on your pet dog. But don't expect all wild animals to be so understanding of strangers.
What more can you do to save yourself and others? Be prepared. Be alert at all times.
Answers
Several people have survived dangers because they were forewarned about what to do. boy scouts and girl guides learn practical skills. A lot of the education you get at school, about far off countries, seems irrelevant. However, I remember a child who had learned about tsunamis in a geography class at school. The following week, on a beach, seeing the sea retreating, the ten-year-old girl knew it would be returning. The child alerted their own family and others to the danger and saved several lives, a hundred people.
Prevention
Prevention is better than cure.
Sharks
If in danger, some things sound obvious - keep your hand out of the shark's mouth.
Other advice runs counter to your instincts. Do not run away, because the instinct of the animal or fish is to chase after you. Every time I read that, I think about police chases and gang fights and the advice: 'Stand your ground'.
Safest Time and Place
The other advice I noted is to avoid areas where food is in the water attracting fish to eat. Also avoid swimming at dawn and dusk, because that's when fish are looking for breakfast and supper.
If you are attacked, you can improvise a weapon, from a camera, a stick or a rock. If you plan to swim in a shark area, you could prepare with a gadget for defence, such as a Shark Billy, a long stick with a hook.
Advice could be wrong. I have books on survival from various military organizations. If you compare two books and find the same advice, it's probably good advice, and reading it twice helps imprint it on your memory.
Interesting Websites
Danger From Guards:
https://news.sky.com/video/queens-guard-shoves-female-tourist-11448156
Helping Prevention of Fire-Related Accidents:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dorahjones2018
Using School Lessons To Retreat From a Tsunami:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1480192/Girl-10-used-geography-lesson-to-save-lives.html
Story of a man who survived shark, bear and snake attacks and advice:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-41981379#_=_
Staistics And Preventing Shark Attacks (Shields, giant nets etc)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-39639387
Anti-Shark Attack Tools For Swimmers, Surfers and Divers:
https://gizmodo.com/5823322/6-tools-to-fight-a-shark-and-win-maybe/
SOS SIGNALS FOR HELP
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/27/us/sos-rescue-from-island/index.html
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
