In the U.S. we have become so accustomed to litigation that we post warning signs about the slightest potencial dangers. Griffin and I have often laughed at the warning stickers that accompany new products and have even posted them on our refrigerator for repeated laughs. One that comes to mind was the circle with the slash over someone putting their baby in the newly purchased tupperware box and then putting the lid on. How many potential wrong situations really have to be considered?
In Mexico there are no lawsuits over hot coffee-- and believe me, I have, with my proclivity to sip immediately from a fresh cup of coffee, burned my mouth a few times on a scalding cup placed before me-- no warning signs to mark rebar jutting out of the sidewalk on a very public walkway, and no warning system to forewarn swimmers of strong rip tides (it is a common occurence to rescue someone being swept out to sea at Saladita, I even had a hand in saving a father and two sons). No the responsibility lies with the individual to notice that the water in the cup is hot, that the rebar is shin height, and that the waves are forming a river leading out to sea. And mexicans certainly get a kick out the things people have sued over in the US.
Indeed it has its setbacks as many a stubbed toe will tell you. Walking here requires more attention. And likely, when something does happen, as it did to one unsuspecting canadian girl, empathy will not be the first reaction, but rather surprise at someone´s lack of awareness.
¨How is it possible that you didn´t see that 3 foot wide, 3 foot deep hole?¨ And perhaps then a rock will be moved in front of it to guide unsuspecting foreigners, with less sharpened intuitions for walking around such potentially dangerous obstacles. Fortunately, the Canadian gal was okay.
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