We have low-hanging tree branches that may or may not have the potential to gauge out your eyes. We don’t have a strong likelihood of a street corner stabbing or other violent public encounter.

When I consider the former, I think of my city, Burlington, which is so comparably devoid of crime that it doesn’t much enter our daily conversations or affect municipal policy. In contemplating the latter, I think of Hamilton, my hometown and the most troublesome parts of it. Fights, stabbings and even shootings are not uncommon. (Still, they’re practically nonexistent in comparison with many major U.S. metropolitan areas.)

You’d think I don’t have much to complain about here in terms of looming physical danger. Relatively speaking, that’s true. Ceding that point, allow me to introduce to you the hazards that we do have, the ones that ought to cause concern for those of us who are lucky enough not to have to worry much about vicious beatings. Continue reading →