Out of the Ashes by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Adventure, War
ISBN: 9780786019533
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 1983-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Safety at Home

Like a lot of home hobbyists, Phil liked to build model boats and airplanes in his spacious basement. A proud veteran of World War II, he preferred building military planes and warships. He was proud of them, and they lined the shelves of his den upstairs.

Like a lot of hobbyists, Phil felt safety was for the other guy. After all, he worked at home, not at some big plant with bulky machinery andfiring pistons and hazard warnings all over the walls. The radio played his golden oldies, familiar songs from a bygone era that made him feel safe and sound in his creaky desk chair.

Besides, Phil worked with sailboats and propellers, paint and glue, not forklifts and dangerous chemicals. And yet he worked with a grinding wheel and was supposed to wear safety goggles just as you would working with a jigsaw or soldering iron or any other hazardous piece of home machinery.

But as with most safety equipment, the goggles were cumbersome and restricted his vision a little so Phil never wore them. He needed his eyes to get the grinding just right so that his model parts would be perfect.

So when the little hairline crack in the grinding wheel got worse and itfinally sheared apart, cracking andflying into a dozen lethal pieces, Phil’s eyes were completely unprotected and, unsurprisingly, severely damaged. He wound up blind—not temporarily, but for life.

Phil didn’t just make those models for himself. He had a family, a wife and kids, and he’d never see them again. It was hard to blame Phil for what he did or didn’t do down in his basement—to him, the safest place on earth.

All I know is that Phil blamed himself for never being able to see his family again, and I don’t want you to feel the same way someday simply because you didn’t takefive seconds to put on your safety goggles, gear, or gloves.

Home: The Safest Place on Earth? We know about childpro ofing our homes and fencing in our pools and leashing our dogs and keeping hazardous chemicals where they belong. Then come the holidays, and the lights need to go up on the awning, and nobody’s ever around when you need them, so . . . why don’t we just climb up on that ladder and do it ourselves?

So what if the highest point is just out of reach? We ’ll just climb up on that top step and reach, reach . . . reach. So what if a sign on the ladder says not to do that? It’s a sturdy ladder, you’ve done it a dozen times before, and if you can just stretch an inch or two higher. Almost there . . . almost there . . . and bam, you’re another statistic, another victim getting rushed to the ER and about to spend your holiday in the hospital.

If you’re lucky, that is.

Then, too, the more elements you add to a home— ceiling fans, tool sets, chimneys, swimming pools, skateboard ramps,fire pits, Christmas lights—the more safety hazards you create for you and your family.

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