Beyond Belief

We all have our set of beliefs and love to hold on to them. But what if beliefs were to interfere with our own safety, is it still worth holding onto or just letting it go? Well, why don’t we find out by delving into our topic for today — Beyond Belief!

Recently, a group of motorcyclists rumbled into Yellowknife, the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Their 5500-km bike ride was an effort to push for helmet exemptions for dastār or turban-wearing Sikhs. The belief is that nothing should be worn on top of a dastār or turban whether on the road or on work sites, and it should be a matter of personal choice. This is also endorsed by the World Sikh Organization, an organization which serves to protect the Sikh identity and faith across the globe.

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

I’m a bike rider myself and I’ve been in quite a few accidents where I have literally been thrown off from the bike, but the one thing that prevented me from getting badly hit on the head is the presence of a helmet, though with a head like the one I have currently, I would probably need two helmets. Anyway, research studies conducted in the past have clearly proved the link between wearing a helmet and the reduction in serious head injuries resulting in death. To question this would be akin to reinventing the wheel, so let’s not do that. 

When we know for certain, helmets are a much needed safety equipment, what’s forcing us to look at it indifferently? If our beliefs stand to gain here, won’t the risk it poses to our life completely offset the gain? Shouldn’t our safety outweigh our beliefs any day? The purpose of a helmet is to protect our head not injure our identity. Headlights, seat belts, gloves, smoke detectors, helmets and hard hats all have something in common. They are products designed to protect our safety and so are certain laws. Looking to repeal laws that are enforced to keep us safe is to put ourselves in harm’s way. 

How can wearing a helmet or hard hat be treated as a matter of personal choice when its enforcement will do nothing other than protect us either when we’re on the road riding the bike or on the work site? Would allowing us to decide impulsively work all the time? Let’s say we were given the choice to respect or disrespect traffic lights, how many of us are gonna get home safe? Certain things cannot be left for public discretion, they have to be enforced and why can’t helmet law be seen as one such law? Using our set of beliefs to push for an exemption sets a bad precedence because we all come with different beliefs. To what extent can laws be bent to accommodate our ocean of beliefs? Or let me paraphrase, do you want laws to protect your belief or protect you?

A couple of years back, one of my colleagues had a bike accident and her leg was severely injured. When I went to see her at the hospital, her leg was supported by multiple thin rods inserted through her leg and protruding from either side, and she couldn’t move an inch. She was also under a heavy dose of painkillers, just that thought of her on the hospital bed gives me the chills. 

Biker

After enquiring about how the accident happened and all that jazz, I asked her husband who was standing right next to her bed, “when is the surgery?” He told me its after two days. 

I was like, “why do you have to wait for two days?”. The response he’s about to give would leave you as astonished as I was at that time. 

This is what he said. “The time is not right for my wife to have the surgery. After two days, its fine.” In other words, what he is trying to imply is that there is an auspicious time for the surgery to happen. And only when it happens at that auspicious time will the surgery go well, that’s his belief. 

Though I personally do not comprehend the concept of auspicious time, I would still want to understand as to why his wife, my colleague has to suffer for his belief? Or even if both are on the same page with this, does that still justify? Our body runs on circadian rhythm not an auspicious clock. What if delaying critical surgeries for an auspicious time in the future turns things from bad to worse, or even fatal? Again, belief is coming in the way of our safety. Shouldn’t the right course of action be taking the surgery at the earliest as opposed to taking it at an auspicious time?

I’m not here to shame, mock, offend, attack or proselytize us into a common set of beliefs. I understand belief is very personal, an outcome of our own search for life’s meaning, or in most cases, a rite of passage. It doesn’t matter how we found our beliefs, what really matters is that our beliefs should never get in the way of our safety. Therefore, let’s make a pact unto ourselves to believe what we believe in but without losing our common sense.