Published: August 07, 2008 06:31 pm            

STAWAR: As the litigious world turns

Each summer I am reminded of just how litigious our society is, by the mystery of the vanishing diving boards. When I was a kid every pool had to have one. It was an unwritten law. Even the tiniest of pools had spring boards. A motel might not have ice machines or color television, and the pool might not even contain water, but it always had a diving board.

I loved to swim as a child, but I lived in dread of the high dive at the local public pool. The social pressure to take the plunge was immense, but I could never bring myself to do it and paid dearly for my cowardice, by being teased unmercifully all summer. Then miraculously, one day without fanfare, the high dive was removed and within a few years all the other diving boards disappeared. Like defanged werewolves, swimming pools across America developed a conspicuous gap where their diving boards previously resided.

Fearful of being sued, we had evolved into a risk-aversive nation. This can be seen at work as well as home. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams says that even if only one clown at work falls off his chair, that invariably means eight hours of chair safety training for the rest of us.

Recently my wife Diane and I were swimming at a nearby lake and even the diving board on the platform, way out in the middle of the lake, had been removed. The kids swimming there, however, were not to be deterred. They were all doing backwards flips off the top of the guard railing instead. They really should put that board back before someone gets killed.

New swimming pools are often shallow and are not designed for diving at all. After a foreign visitor at Disney World mistook feet for meters, most of them are also covered with signs indicating the water depth in various measurement units. Some pools also have terrifying graphics illustrating how you can break your neck by diving into shallow water. Diving board mishaps are fairly rare compared to the other 50,000 or so pool accidents that occur annually, but they are often high profile cases and result in expensive claims, according to an article aptly entitled “Kiss your Cannonball Goodbye.”

Conservative Wall Street Journal editorial writer Steve Moore naturally blames the greedy trial lawyers, but the insurance companies and our risk-avoidant nature also seem to be major culprits. Moore says that diving boards actually prevent the most common of diving accidents, which occur when someone dives headfirst off the side of the pool.

Finding someone else to blame when accidents occur permeates our culture. When our kids were little, we had an elaborate wooden swing set in our backyard complete with a small clubhouse on top. It was what is legally referred to as an attractive nuisance. One day an unfamiliar girl, who was no more than 7 years old, came over to play with our son and his friend from next door. She told us in a matter of fact tone of voice that if the clubhouse broke and she fell, her parents would sue us- nice family! We didn't invite her back.

Besides being sued, parents today have a lot to worry about. It's a much more dangerous world we live in than ever before and digital communications make sure we are aware of every possible threat. As a result there is a lot less trick-or-treating and unsupervised play and a lot more orchestrated play dates, as well as more sunblock applied and bike helmets and life jackets worn.

The safety police have also taken aim at fireworks, floatation devices, lawn darts, asphalt playgrounds, water-skiing and a host of other traditional summer pastimes. Thank goodness we still have our trampolines, 4-wheelers, in-line skates, mini-bikes, and BB guns to keep the orthopedists and emergency rooms occupied.

I remember back in elementary school when one of my classmates, Wayne, fell off the top of the monkey bars and broke his arm. Wayne was one of those kids who perpetually had a cast on one or another of his appendages. He could trip over the pattern on a linoleum floor. When the school administration heard about the monkey bar incident, a Solomon-like edict went down from the superintendent's office and all the jungle gyms were summarily hack sawed in two, so that they were reduced to one-half of their original size.

Of course, no self-respecting third grader would be caught dead climbing a three foot jungle gym. Instead we all started playing in the ash pit and later that school year we migrated over to the swampy part of the school grounds that froze over in winter. We slide on the ersatz pond, until the knees in our Toughskins were worn through.

Contrary to the diving board safety obsession, I have noticed a lot of people riding around on motorcycles without wearing helmets this summer. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says that the very existence of helmets tells us a lot about human nature. What creatures, other than humans, would voluntarily engage in activities that frequently result in lethal blows to the head. I recently saw a photo of our governor on a motorcycle leading a parade in Charlestown and he wasn't wearing a helmet. We should all feel proud to have such a daredevil running our state. I'll bet the swimming pool at the governor's mansion, if there is one, still has a diving board.



Terry L. Stawar, Ed.D., lives in Georgetown and is the CEO of LifeSpring in Jeffersonville. He can be reached at tstawar@lifespr.com or 812-206-1234. Subscribe to his podcast coming this fall at www.lifespr.com.

        

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