hugs & helmets

I'm hoping to use my bike more if I can get it in riding condition in the near future, to take some little jaunts to the park, or the grocery store, or maybe even to Foo's for some custard.  It will be so fun!  But you know what...I think I would have already ridden my bike this spring if I didn't have to wear a helmet.  

Not kidding.  Having to get decked out in all that gear??  (Meaning...the helmet.)  And...making sure my tires aren't flat?  (What would I do if they were?  I don't know.)  And did I mention having to put on a helmet?  

It would be so easy to just hop on my bike, not even have to worry about getting helmet hair, and enjoy a breezy ride to any one of those nearby places.  It's not far, after all-- and my head could be so free, no prep needed, no plastic clips under my chin making me feel like a 5-year-old.  I could look fresh.  Fun.  Eco-friendly.

But (sorry, now I'm going to get all mom-ish) those would all be silly reasons to not be safe.  Do they really matter?  If my parents were to clip me into my helmet like I really was 5, wouldn't that be their way of reminding me that I matter to them?  And that that's reason enough to try to be safe?  Even now, when we're just saying goodbye for a short time, their hugs are enough reminder to be safe without hearing the actual words or feeling a helmet clip click under my chin.  

So, in the balance, it's not that much of a sacrifice to try to be safe.  And I think I respond better to a hug than to repeated reprimands or scolding.  In this context, hugs and helmets basically get at the same thing-- "you matter to me, so please be safe."  That seems to have been the thought behind this campaign in Denmark (wow, sorry, this was a super-long introduction), where the police handed out hugs and helmets to bare-headed bicyclists, instead of fines.  I think it would make me think differently about my value as a person, rather than just my responsibility as a citizen.  It would definitely make me think twice, in a good way.  

And just because I just thought of this, here's a link to another kind of counter-intuitive philosophy held by a corporate entity for people breaking the rules (see last few questions).  Not totally related, but interesting.