by Mona Pellerin

Created on: November 28, 2009   Last Updated: November 29, 2009

Safety is a state of mind whereby knowledge and awareness of danger, leads one into a state of preparedness for whatever danger becomes a reality. Humans have survived for thousands of years in spite of a "World of Uncertainty" and the ability to adapt is the primary benefit. Adaptations for primitive humans included living a nomadic life to avoid harsh elements and to travel from one food source to another.

Their greatest benefit involved a shared interdependence among themselves and with nature. Although communication about weather conditions was nil, these early hunter-gatherers could intuitively read nature and the signs of impending danger.

From their creative nature, they began to make tools and weapons to provide advantages for survival. Because survival was a daily primary goal, each day of survival was celebrated with some type of music and dance.

In the Modern World where communication is world-wide and dangers are broad casted on a daily basis, human safety is connected to how well one understands the danger and what is involved in the preparedness. During these times, human judgment is a key factor and human denial can spell disaster.

Except for some extraordinary galactic event, humans usually know the evident dangers where they live. Those who live in areas where tornadoes are frequent have storm cellars. Those who live by oceans are aware of storms and the damage caused according to the intensity of the storm. Some people live on fault lines that are privy to earthquakes and still others live where there are sand storms, volcanic activity, rock slides, mud slides or raging forest fires.

These dangers require vigilance, awareness and heed to warnings with actions of preparedness that are related to saving human life above all material possessions. The fact that humans will hesitate after repeated warnings or will rebuild in the same area where there is repeated danger of the same nature is a fallacy in perception of what it means to be safe.

Humans are no match for the ravages of nature. That we understand that nature does things that are required for the mechanics of the universe to sustain itself is to her credit and that humans do things that alter this process such as global warming and polluted waterways is a discredit to human intelligence and awareness.

There is a sizable amount of money spent and human life put at risk during disasters which implies a great amount of caring. However, if like the hunter-gatherers, we could use more of our intuitive nature about our safety instead of being so busy with externals, we might have a better sense of self-preservation.

According to an article, by Julian Borger, June 2009, New Zealand is the safest country in the world according to a weighted mix of 23 criteria including foreign wars, internal conflicts, respect for human rights, the number of murders, the number of people in jail, the arms trade and degrees of democracy.

Iraq was at the bottom of the list with Britain as 34th and United States being 83rd due to its two foreign wars, a high prison population and the general availability of guns. http://www.helium.com/items/new?id=8538-the-safest-p lace-in-the-world.

It could be that behavior of humans is less predictable than the furies of Mother Nature. With this in mind, it appears that our feelings of safety are more connected to the social ethos where we live. Does our social ethos espouse values that are related to respect for human life and the potential to thrive?

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