Is One A Lot? or The Power Of One

How many times do we read about a single instance of something bad happening that results in sweeping legislative activity? We seem to be obsessed with that dog’s tail wagging us.

In my newspaper I read where a German court has ruled that a circumcision which resulted in complications was an assault on the boy’s Physical Integrity and the practice of circumcision has been declared a cause of Bodily Harm in Germany.

The article did not say that thousands of boys have suffered this “assault”. Does this mean there was only one case that caused complications in all of Germany?

If there can be found one case where there was no Bodily Harm done, does that single case negate the single case of Circumcisional Complications? (I know “circumcisional” is not a word. Don’t write me about it. Classify it under the category of “Foolishness License”.)

I thank you in advance, dear reader, for allowing me to carry this to an extreme. Here is my Foolishness...

• There are 6,795 overpasses in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. (Don’t check out 6,795 overpasses. I made that number up. Classify it under the category of “Foolishness License”.)
• A 6 year old child wanders away from his home, gets to one of these overpasses, climbs over the guard rail and falls into traffic and is killed.

Does this one instance of child wandering, climbing, falling and dying justify installing 12 foot high climb-proof barriers on all 6,795 overpasses?

Some of us would answer in the affirmative to the above question. Therein lays the crux of the problem. If a person or a society does not have unlimited funds, that person or that society cannot spend unlimited money.

I know some of you just said, “Why not?” That “Why Not?” makes me fear for our future.

Please do not write me back and tell me that China has the money to build these 13,590 overpass 12 foot high climb-proof barriers and all we have to do is use their money.

Would I kid u?

NOTE: Don’t blame me… BlogSpot (Google) is responsible for those ads at the bottom of my Foolishness.