Helmets

Helmets: it seems simple enough to grasp their skull protecting significance. I did not wear one, I refused to wear one. I spent an entire day riding a beach cruiser around Coronado, wearing nothing but short shorts and a coral- striped t-shirt while the wind carried all my cares away. My excuse (and that of millions) has been immortalized by rapper Drake’s lines: my excuse is that I’m young.

I am the first person to admit that helmet-less bicycle riding hardly makes me a hardcore rebel. However, the risks were still present. I knew them well and my aunt secretly encouraged me to wear a helmet but gave me the liberty to choose. I chose to go helmet-less even though riding next to cars meant that any vehicle could easily lose control and hit me. I knew the risks and ignored them. I figured a person like me, with an entire life left to conquer, was immune to any possibility of danger.

Afterwards, it hit me (a rhetorical question, of course) Why did my age make me feel entitled  to say no to something whose purpose it was to protect me?

I still ask myself this question even today.  And the doubts I have about my life choices and my age make me wonder why the young are the first individuals forced to face society’s trigger when we make decisions. Why is it so easy for the rest of the population to label the young irresponsible and reckless? Underneath it all, we all make decisions along with mistakes, regardless of age. It is no secret that we the young feel untouchable, giving us a sense of security then prompting us to act. The untouchable feeling removes any sense of fear and lets us live without inhibitions. But I would bet anything in the world that most adults nowadays wish they could live without the fear that we love to challenge.

While I may have been foolish for not having worn a helmet, the consequences never stopped roaming in my mind. I suppose the bicycle riders in Coronado were just as foolish; I might have seen two people at most ensuring their safety with helmets throughout the entire day. I feel safe knowing I am not alone trekking a road replete with obstacles. But most importantly, I feel safe knowing that as naïve as I can be that same road will never die, unlike I will someday.

Daniela Contreras

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