CHAPTER THREE
THE END OF CARELESSNESS
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we never had to worry about people
carelessly risking the lives of our loved ones, neighbors, and
friends? Well, get ready for a miracle. I shall demonstrate, by
applying this natural law, how it is now possible to change our environment
and raise man’s conscience to such a degree that all carelessness, including
automobile accidents, will be virtually wiped from the face of the earth
because people the world over will do everything in their power to avoid the
carelessness and risks responsible. Right now there are more people killed
in automobile accidents than we can fully comprehend. These collisions
take place only because man operates on 75% of his potential power which
is insufficient to prevent what nobody wants, even though he is doing
everything in his power to prevent it. By understanding what it means that
man’s will is not free we plug in the extra 25%, and then have the power to
prevent the unintentional tragedies that continue to plague our lives.
Carelessness, just as the word implies is an ‘I do not care’ attitude. It
arises from several factors. There are young boys and girls who want to
make an impression on their friends and this requires that they demonstrate
their ability to handle a car like a race car driver, but they never give much
thought to the other person because man’s first concern has always been for
himself. The show-off wants to give his friends a thrill and demonstrate
how to do what really takes guts. He doesn’t care if he is a menace to other
drivers who happen to cross his path. If he is willing to risk his own life –
and happens to take others with him – that’s their tough luck. For this
reason you would often hear, ‘Drive carefully; the life you save might be
your own.’ The drunks and dope addicts and people in a hurry cannot stand
being behind a slow moving vehicle even if this means passing on a curve
or hill. They either don’t fully realize the danger or they don’t care, since
the risk is primarily to them with no thought of those who may be in the
way.
There are those who don’t care because this requires great effort and
they aren’t willing to exert the kind of energy it takes to protect the lives of
others. To apply brakes when the light changes yellow as an alternative to
speeding up and making it so stopping isn’t necessary is considered a
nuisance. As a result, they often end up going through on the red and
crashing into the driver who starts off before the light has changed to green.
Then there is the mother who is so fed up with the struggle to take care of
the house and her children, and now that she is no longer in love with her
husband she just doesn’t care. She leaves matches and other potentially
dangerous items lying around and when the house catches on fire or they
get hurt in some other way she always comes up with excuses. What has
added to her carelessness is that she never understood the meaning of
fatalism which is the belief that whatever happens is determined by fate and
beyond one’s control. Consequently, when this belief in fatalism was
expressed to me by a mother who didn’t seem to take much care in looking
after her children, I asked her the following question:
“If you saw your infant getting ready to crawl in front of a truck, would
you pick him up or let him go?â€
“Naturally, I would grab him.â€
“Why would you grab him, if you believe in fate?â€
“I can see that danger,†she replied.
“In other words,†I responded, “once you have done everything in your
power to prevent an accident and then it occurs, you can say it was fate.â€
Carelessness has allowed airplanes to crash into each other or to explode
because the mechanics failed in their duty. It has allowed ships to ram each
other, hotels, night clubs, houses, etc. to burst into flames and people to
perish. It has allowed tires to blow out and brakes to fail; even buildings to
collapse. There is no telling how many lives have been lost or mutilated
(blinded, crippled or what have you) all because of someone’s carelessness.
And liability insurance came into existence out of absolute necessity to help
prevent the aftereffects of an accident; otherwise we would have more
killing.
My friend remarked, “I don’t know about you guys but if it had not been
for my ability to drive defensively, I would have been killed or hospitalized
at least a dozen times. I agree that defensive driving is extremely important
in this world, that is. I don’t know about the new world, but not everybody
has this coordination and skill to drive defensively, just as they don’t have
other talents and skills.â€
“You’re right; however, everybody does have the ability to apply the
rules of good driving. Now observe how God compels this to come about.â€