Maybe, for each generation, risk and naivety just reveal themselves through hindsight.
And maybe we need to cherish both characteristics because they silently propel us through the ages, help us step around pitfalls and maintain a focus on what we consider our better selves.
During the 1980s (before we had an HR department), I somehow slipped through the OSHA regulations and did my photography in cheese and butter plants for Wisconsin Dairies without wearing the later-required paper booties or hairnets.
And what OSHA didn’t know is that I had cerebral palsy and routinely walked through the greasy-floor plants with my crutches and camera tripod. I did not have one fall in my 29 years on the job.
One day (as my fellow plant employees watched with grins), I climbed three flights of steel stairs with my crutches, my camera and tripod to a catwalk so I could get just the right angle on a series of stainless steel tanks. Great photos that I used for a couple of years but not a risk I would take again.
* What has experience taught you about our humanity that you didn’t realize when you were in school?
I frequently, at age 73, have come to realize that things I have known all my life are not true. We do not know nearly as much about Life as we think we do.
Maybe, for each generation, risk and naivety just reveal themselves through hindsight.
And maybe we need to cherish both characteristics because they silently propel us through the ages, help us step around pitfalls and maintain a focus on what we consider our better selves.
During the 1980s (before we had an HR department), I somehow slipped through the OSHA regulations and did my photography in cheese and butter plants for Wisconsin Dairies without wearing the later-required paper booties or hairnets.
And what OSHA didn’t know is that I had cerebral palsy and routinely walked through the greasy-floor plants with my crutches and camera tripod. I did not have one fall in my 29 years on the job.
One day (as my fellow plant employees watched with grins), I climbed three flights of steel stairs with my crutches, my camera and tripod to a catwalk so I could get just the right angle on a series of stainless steel tanks. Great photos that I used for a couple of years but not a risk I would take again.
* What has experience taught you about our humanity that you didn’t realize when you were in school?
I frequently, at age 73, have come to realize that things I have known all my life are not true. We do not know nearly as much about Life as we think we do.