Risk the price of being alive

I’m getting very tired of hearing this politician or that official saying we need more study, we need a moratorium on building, we need this action or that action. Every time they open their mouths the dollar signs start flowing, and I also have to think that most of their actions aren’t about human safety, but appearing to do something to build their vote-gathering ability.

One thing I have not heard from any of them is the simple statement that there is no where safe to live. A study was done and the politicians went into panic and decided we couldn’t use that study when they found that virtually every place in the county was subject to slides. Guess what? That’s the only study that has made sense. Every square inch of this planet has the possibility of slides, earthquakes, floods, sandstorms, blizzards, hail storms, tidal waves (oops tsunamis), lightning, forest fire, or some other natural happening that may very well cause human suffering. That is the price of life on earth. Risk. And we as humans don’t improve our risk when we bulldoze areas and destroy the soil stability to build homes, roads, parking lots, strip malls, etc., or cut down forests, or modify our planet in so many other ways.

Humans are here to stay at least for this small portion of this planet’s history, but we need to admit that we can’t outsmart mother nature. There always have been, and always will be horrible human tragedies at her hand.

All we can do is try to evaluate where we choose to live and accept the risk. If you want a beautiful water view on an ocean, river, or lake, be aware your risk level just increased. If you live on the side of or at the bottom of a hill or mountain, your risk increased, if you live in a desert, you increase your risk.

The government can’t decrease the risk no matter how much of our money they spend studying it. Make your own choices and accept your own risks, and politicians, quit trying to pretend you can fix it.

Terry Martz

Tulalip