Risk: What’s your choice?

Risk is present in every move or thought a human being takes. It is defined as the possibility of loss, injury or an adverse outcome, measured by the likelihood of an event and the severity of its potential impact on objectives. It can often be associated with dangerous situations, but in reality, it is often associated with any concepts that have uncertainty and can have either negative or positive outcomes.

We all deal with risk every day. Some examples: Eating: what if a person chokes on food and is alone? Drivin:; how many drivers left this morning and didn’t come home alive? Walking: anyone ever slipped on a wet surface and hit their head? I once slipped in a manure alley and saw the bottom of cows’ bellies as they walk past. I was covered with poop but able to get up. I couldn’t tell some people about my experience because they wouldn’t risk being with cows.

How about the mechanics in the crowd? Ever have a wrench slip off a nut and go flying? Then think, “Lucky it didn’t hit anyone.” Or the torch kit that developed a gas leak that started on fire. What about the risk of a jack not staying where it was originally put and then a vehicle falls to the floor. I was pulling a log truck out of a neighbor’s driveway when the driver let the clutch out; the chain broke and came through the rear window like a missile.

My 10-year-old grandsons were watching an older fellow use a spray can with a lighter to start a fire for a good purpose. Later, they thought they would try that procedure near a hay wagon filled with dry corn fodder. This was in a new shed rebuilt after the previous one had burned to the ground two years before. Luckily, only the plastic melted in one corner of the building and adults pulled the wagon outside quickly by hand. We hope those boys now have a better understanding of the risk of fire.

Risk is all around us. Each of us has different levels of being risk adverse. Helicopter parents present a unique form of being averse to all risks. How do kids learn to walk if they can’t fall? How do kids learn to work if they never have to? How do kids learn to grow after a failure if they’re never allowed to try? Jacqui once taught kindergarten and first grade students and came home so disturbed because parents were doing homework assignments for these kids. Parents writing the alphabet for their kids does not help the student.

What about the risk of sending kids to school to be commingled with other kids and then bring home all the viruses in the area? Is that inoculation good in the long run or is it less risky to keep kids isolated so they are never exposed to other antigens until they become adults? A few years ago, I was trying to counter an argument by some groups opposed to agriculture and found a study written in National Geographic magazine. It found the incidence of asthma was many times greater in kids who were not raised on farms with animals in Germany. In the study, 15,000 kids were followed over their lifetimes. The opponents of a proposed hog facility claimed the health risk of living close to a lot of animals was too risky. The study indicates the opposite is true.

Teenagers seem to be the biggest risk takers of all. Driving fast and quick is so fun. The risk of breaking the rules and paying for it is usually something growing up involves. A cousin got caught speeding with his hot Chevelle SS at 125 mph and paid the $50 fine. That risk today might cost you a night in the crowbar hotel.

What about the countless risks in farming? Who else put seeds in the ground one to two inches deep and hopes for big, beautiful plants by fall so we have enough feed for our animals? What if those seeds fail? The previous owner of our farm often told me the story of feeding his cows leaves that he had hauled to the haymow in the fall during the depression and dust bowl years. The cows didn’t milk much but they did survive.

In the 1980s, there were no crop insurance programs, no Dairy Margin Coverage, no Livestock Revenue Protection, no Dairy Revenue Protection. Despite their availability today, many farmers don’t utilize these risk management programs. Why not? Comments I’ve heard include, “They are too expensive.” Even when the government pays half. Or, “We had three good years, we can make it through a bad one.” Or, “We’ve never had a crop failure.” We are lucky to now have so many programs to protect our crops, milk and meat.

Risk is a part of everyday life for everyone. Part of risk is fear – fear of the unknown. That fear can control every part of your life if you let it. We have the knowledge and the tools to put our risks in a place where they don’t have to control our lives.