How Bad Will It Be?                                 

This morning the reality came to me that as I get older, I will most likely have more and more freak mishaps that should have been avoidable if I was more careful. It grew from the experience last night when I was driving on a road that I drive every day and I drove in the middle at one point to avoid pedestrians and as it was dark and rainy, where I knew there was a bad bump. For the third time in the last 3 weeks, I hit a bump in which the low van hit bottom in a way that the oil filter was hit and it bent back enough that all the oil escaped out in a less than a minute. (Actually one time Loretta hit one at the same place I did last night and we picked upon the offending stone and this morning we picked up several more road hazards.)  Each time I had to get a filter and 4 quarts of oil that would cost at least $30.00B [15US$] and then get it fixed by a mechanic or do it myself as I have done the two previous times.

Very recently I read that older people, 65 years and up, have one chance out of three to take a fall every year. I took mine several weeks a go when I was on the farm. There was a low ditch beside the road and I set a bucket in the middle of the ditch to step on to avoid getting my feet wet as I crossed over. I had done this before with good success. But when I came back our with a load of oranges or bananas, the bucket tipped over and I sprawled full length with my down side in the shallow water, much to the amusement of the youth with me and I laughed with them. But it was not funny at all this morning when I had to ride several miles in a drizzling rain on a borrowed bike to get that oil filter and oil and then lay down beside the van to rectify my damage to the van last night.

Old people get blamed for being careless dangerous driver as they age. So do teens. The middle aged people claim to be the best drivers. So at some point we become better drivers and then revert so that at one time we have an accident frequency precisely at the rate of teens; then I suppose we sail on dangerously until the license bureau or the police say we can no longer drive, unless we have the sense to quit when it is time or respond to our family’s evaluation of a failing grade. One older friend had us pray that he would just know when he should quit and then the next week he had a slight mishap at a junction and he felt he had his answer. We can hope for wisdom like that when our time comes.

Some people might have all the answers why people get accident prone as they get older and think we are losing something. I was very tired in the evening when I went over that bad bump in the road and I forgot it was there, also not being able to see 20-20 in the dark. As for the bucket, I took a risk like any younger person might and also have a spill. So likely some of our mishaps are as any person might have in similar situations. Perhaps also we may lack judgment at times, or sensitivity because of hearing or sight deficiency. Certainly one hopes one does not have to be senile to have accidents and mishaps. So partly it may also be a stereotype where age is blamed for some mishaps which are common to all before we are really old!