I’ve been to the Grand Canyon a few times, and I’ve hiked it twice. In places there are pretty big drops, over 2000 feet in places. One time I hiked the Bright Angel Trail the top was iced over and I had to carry crampons just in case. Did I say I’m afraid of heights.
I saw people doing things – like standing on walls at the edge – that I would have been terrified doing. Then I bought the book “Death in the Grand canyon” that listed all of the times people had died. That didn’t make me feel like posing on rocks at the edge.
I’ve been amazed at how many white women are standing up to talk about how wrong it is that they are afraid on the streets this week. An MP read out a list of women killed.
The ONS statistics show that last year shows that if she had read out a list of men it would have taken her a lot longer. Last year the number of women killed dropped by over 15%, the number of men killed rose by 20%. And if your skin happens to be darker than off-white the risk of being killed is much much higher.
I’ve just come back from my late night walk. I’m lucky I live in a really safe area. But I walk along main roads – I don’t walk down dark alleys. There are nice parks near me – but they are dark – I would never walk through them at night. In fact I would never walk through Clapham Common at night. I would be too afraid. But I’m a man – and us men don’t talk about being afraid.
I’m sure this is party of why the white women speaking out think this is a women’s problem. I also have a sneaking suspicion part of it is because white trophies need to be protected. But the facts are that white women are the least at risk of being killed, it would be interested in knowing why they appear to be the most afraid.
Am I right – are men just as afraid – and just too macho to admit it?
I once heard the Bishop of Bruges give a talk about the fear of nuclear power. He said that making sure there was no risk was not the same as making people feel safe. Yes, white women have the lowest risk, this does not mean they feel safe. I’m white and live in a safe area but I still am afraid of some areas on my night walk – truth is I am much safer than somebody that is black.
The Bish was right – being risl free and feeling safe are two different things.
It got to thinking about our “return to normal”. The risk from coronavirus is reducing – in fact the risk of death has reached fairly low levels. Do people feel safe? Some don’t, and spouting facts will do little to help that. When hiking the Grand Canyon the guidance is “Let the slowest walker set the pace”.