As a general rule, it’s easier to prevent than to repair, right? It’s much more economical in the sense of time, money, stress, etc. to prevent a problem than to have to fix a situation that’s already occurred. Why, then, do we as a species put so little thought into prevention? We could eradicate HIV. We could dramatically reduce car collisions. We could save ourselves years of heartache. I’m more aware of prophylactic measures and make more effort than your average Joe to keep myself from being in a situation I’d regret later, but average Joes roll their eyes at me. I look back at my life, and have I really missed out on anything by being the way I am? I honestly don’t think so. I don’t get a high from dangling from the edge of destruction and being able to come back to tell about it. It makes no sense to me — why gamble with something that has no gratification? It bugs me to watch people close to me take risk after risk just because they’re impatient or can’t see anything beyond a potential miniscule reward. I constantly picture one of those old-fashioned scales in my head like the one that Lady Justice carries: on the left is arriving at the destination 30 seconds sooner; on the right is traffic ticket, traffic school, further delay as the cop issues the citation for the crazy illegal manuever just pulled, or maybe a collision with expensive repair bills and/or injuries. It’s a no-brainer to me, but apparently, only to me. I quit drinking sodas 3 years ago and aside from the occasional splash of lemon-lime in a mixed drink I may order, haven’t looked back and have saved myself 3 years (and counting) of chemicals, dehydration, sugar, empty calories, fat cells.

So I was thinking this morning, why human nature doesn’t just do the easy thing, foresee the plausible outcomes of a decision and make the smarter one. It’s not much more effort than the other thing, and often it’s less effort! A stitch in time saves nine, right? I think our brains are just not designed to be affected enough by negative possibilities. The possibility of a car accident doesn’t spur us to not speed or run yellow lights; the potential of something being messed up that we’d have to repair later doesn’t keep us from NOT messing that thing up. But the panic induced from having to repair something broken drives us to action. It just seems so very backwards and unnecessary, that we have to be goaded by negativity and not encouraged by peace and tranquility.

Oh well…people robbing banks cuz all they see is the next 10 minutes of being in possession of wealth — as opposed to the 10 minutes after THAT of police chase, jail, humiliation and disappointment of their family, etc — is what gives me job security, I suppose.