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Our focus is cutting down on risk, not taking it. We just put up a tall and massive fence across the span of the High Level Bridge to prevent suicide attempts. We must take off our shoes and throw away our shampoo to board a plane. We can’t go to a pro hockey game without going through a metal detector.

We soothe, we coddle, we protect, we hover. We don’t let our kids take peanut butter sandwiches to school. Parents can’t volunteer for their child’s activities without going through a police check, maybe even getting fingerprinted.

Our movies and TV shows all have warnings. Students are starting to demand “trigger warnings” in the classroom, lest they be presented with some troubling or controversial information that might shake up their world view.

In these safety-first times, if a mom lets her eight-year-old bike to the local playground without adult supervision, the neighbours will start talking.

Almost all of these safety-first measures are new. They did not exist when I was a kid. And you might well think that in listing them I’m constructing a blanket indictment of this new focus. To some extent that is true, especially when we engage in intellectual coddling. But, in fact, many of the physical safety measures are sane.

I’m also not here to argue that Edmontonians are more risk averse than folks in other cities. We’re not. We’re not a city of risk takers, but neither are they. Like other Canadian city dwellers, we’re a cautious, prudent, careful folk. There’s a lot to be said in favour of that approach, but let’s not kid ourselves.

One final note: the mural went up early last week. A few days later, Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli traded star forward Taylor Hall for unheralded Adam Larsson, so it appears someone might have taken the mural’s message to heart. You happy now?

dstaples@postmedia.com

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