Frazz by Jef Mallett for April 11, 2020

When running on neighborhood sidewalks, a bell would be more helpful than a helmet.

I’ve tripped a few times on the uneven sidewalks around here, sometimes I think I need a helmet, as well as knee pads and wrist guards.

Exactly! A bad accident at that!

“I kno” ? Please don’t encourage bad spelling.

I always have trouble reading the decals. What’s word on the Tee?

And Caulfield almost fell for it Frazz’s quick shift.

Then there was the moron who heard that most accidents occur in or near your home, so he moved…

An accident? Maybe not, but it might be a train wreck.

I’ve been focusing more of my weight-work on my legs & buttocks. Keep ’em strong in order to “balance out” potential trips/falls.

I won’t ever understand statistics or probability, but does seem there is lots more opportunity for accidents at the focus of all travel. Home.

Hey Caulfield, the insurance companies haven’t thought of that yet. Don’t give ’em any ideas.

I figured the “more accidents happen close to home” is partly because we spend so much of our time close to home and partly because we’re less likely to be on our guard close to home.

Caulfield even gets to Frazz from time to time.

That where the towns are a mile long and 1 house wide?

A few reasons why little kids don’t take falling as seriously as adults:

 1) Not as far to fall.

 2) Not as much weight behind whatever body part you land on.

 3) Mom’s around to kiss the boo-boo.

 4) They’re probably not paying the doctor bills.

Walking helmets would save more lives than bike helmets do.  But they aren’t fashionable.

Jef Mallett’s Blog Posts.

Frazz.16 hrs · The gospel of my youth, those inspirational Argus posters that were like sanctioned graffiti with fun art that teachers could put up on their classroom walls, sticks with me to this day. Some of the posters do, anyway. One of my favorites showed a peaceful maritime scene under a red sky — and was it a red sky in the morning or a red sky at night? — with the message,

“A ship in a harbor is safe. But that is not what ships are built for.” So it was a little confusing to learn that most accidents happen in the home or close to it. Although, like any good solipsist, I was able to twist it to my own mindset, to say that a life spent safely sheltered in fear of the outer limits was the worst kind of accident or self-inflicted wound possible.

The irony continues, as I write this from inside my own personal brick-bungalow harbor, keeping myself, my wife and, really, everyone I know and no less than the rest of society, safe while a virus stalks the outer world. Turns out life is a little too complicated and unpredictable to fit into an aphorism on a 2 by 2 1/2-foot poster taped to a classroom wall. Maybe two posters would do it, one that says, “you’re not really safe anywhere, so live,” and one that says, “… but don’t be a dumb-ass, either.”

Makes sense.