If the sharks don’t get you, there are other options.
Danger! Or so we’re told
Bill Bryson is hilarious about how white Australians named places. It’s been some years since I read In a Sunburned Country/Down Under (different titles in different countries), so I’m paraphrasing, but here’s how I remember it:
“They’re deeply literal. ‘Shark Bay’ is a bay with sharks. It’s surprising they didn’t just call it “Shark Water” just to eliminate any doubt.”
(Bryson’s book A Short History of Nearly Everything is one of my favourite books ever, should you be looking for something to read.)
So when I tell you I was speaking at a conference the other week on the Gold Coast, you probably can figure it out. It’s on the coast. The sand is golden.
And it’s true. Gorgeous beaches with a thin, wild layer of mangroves, gum trees, and bush turkeys separating civilization from the beach and ocean. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Paradise, so they say.
But I had to laugh at the sign on the path leading down to the beach. It’s almost as though they were discouraging you from swimming.
If you manage to avoid the sharks, and then the stingers, and then the snakes, don’t worry because the dangerous undertow will sweep you out to sea to your doom.
(For all of you now crossing Australia off your “must visit” list, more people die of furniture tipping over on them than they do of shark bites. So, top tip, avoid IKEA too.)
The Tweed Shire Council in your head
Now, it’s good to avoid danger.
Our brain’s #1 job is to keep us alive as long as possible. It’s not just being nice to you. You’re being used. The longer you stay alive, the more likely you are to pass your DNA along.
It means we’re wired, in moments of doubt, to assume danger. It’s a strategy that worked really well for every single one of your near and ancient relatives. They stayed alive, bred, and voilá, here you are..
The downside is that it turns out that we’re very good at doing a Tweed Shire Council on ourselves, and sticking up Danger! Danger! signs in our heads.
We’ve made decisions about what we can’t do, where we can’t go, who we should avoid, where risk lies and where there be dragons.
Some of that’s true now, sure.
Some of it was true in times past, but no longer.
Some of it’s tainted by the general sense of anxiety that we’re feeling about the world, but actually isn’t true for that thing in particular.
And some of it’s never been true.
When you find yourself hesitating because of fear or uncertainty, it might be worth asking, “How current is this danger? And what’s really at risk here?”
I chose not to go for a swim, btw.
