Wednesday 27 May 2015

The Six-Percent Problem

If a volcano started building up around a hundred miles from your house.....with smoke pouring out.....some eruption factor being predicted.....and chaos possibly in the works.....six-percent of your neighbors or friends (maybe even your wife)....would want to go and get within a mile of the volcano to see it up-close and personal.

If you had a 'mad-elephant' who'd stomped and killed a dozen folks.....that had escaped from the circus and cornered in some woods on the other side of the county, then six-percent of your friends, neighbors or relatives (maybe even your husband).....would want to go and walk out in this woods to find the mad-elephant.

If you had a dam that was failing and everyone was warning folks to get out of the downward area.....six-percent of your friends, neighbors and relatives....would want to get into the truck and go about a half-mile down from the dam to watch the potential results.

I call this the six-percent problem with society.  We are this stupid.

You could write a forty-page users manual for chain-saws, and six-percent of folks who'd buy the chainsaw would totally avoid reading the users manual, and get injured in the first week of use.

You could buy a pretty angry and hostile bull....whose previous owner had said he was terribly disturbed, and you told every neighbor to avoid your pasture area where he roamed......and six-percent of the folks warned would immediately come over and want to see the hostile bull.

It is our natural reaction....to test fate.  We simply don't believe some words of caution or wisdom.

For some reason, I actually believe that this group of people are hard-wired to be this way.

The same group of people will see the speed limit set at 75-mph and drive 90-mph....even when it's lightly raining.  The same group of people will hear about a tornado being observed twelve miles over and want to jump in the truck to go and watch it.  The same group of people will hear about some crazy gal who hangs out at the local bar and is absolutely toxic and nuts....but go right up and test her reaction to their offer of a drink.

For some reason, I think there's a reaction by some of us.....to hold back the six-percent.....to emphasize they are doing the wrong thing or risking themselves over stupidity.  But here's the thing.....wisdom, judgement and advice don't work.  Let nature do what it's been doing for a ten-thousand years.

Just some humble advice.