Sunday meanderings... a lighter look on things...

(originally posted 4:20p on 3/6/2005)

My wife and I took our weekly sojourn to the Waite Park Goodwill store today, where my eyes beheld a true relic. It was a 1940s-50s era woodburning set, complete with the original box, stenciled pieces of wood, and instructions on how to use it (printed on the inside cover of the box). The instructions, paraphrased, said,

1. Plug woodburning tool in 110 volt outlet.
2. Wait for woodburning tool to heat up.
3. Begin using tool to burn designs in wood pieces.

On the outside of the box cover was a picture of a boy and girl, clad in "Leave-it-to-Beaver" attire, smiling, and carving pictures into wood. All harmless enough. Until something about it hit me. "Wait a minute," I thought. There's something missing. Not one word of "caution" on the tool, the box, the wood pieces; not one word of caution to be found. Anywhere. No "Caution, improper use of this tool may lead to injury or death," or "Danger-Fire Hazard- product may be hot, do not place tool on lap," or "do not use this toy while bathing," or "You'll shoot your eye out!" No "no warranty made, express. written or implied, as to the safe use of this product." No multi-lingual 25-page pamphlet filled with the hazards of using the woodburning tool. Anywhere. Just an electric wood burning tool, pieces of wood, and a box with instructions printed on the inside of the cover.

This observation led me to wonder if the emergency rooms were filled in the 1940s and 1950s with children who were maimed or dismembered via uninformed, improper use of wood burning tools. I wonder if the courtrooms of the 1940s and 1950s were filled with ambulance-chasing trial lawyers hell bent on getting every last nickel out of the Acme woodburning tool company for not warning their clients ahead of time that their child may burn his fingers if not careful while using their product. Or, alternatively, did their moms simply have their child run his finger under some cold water, put a band-aid on the finger, give the tool back to him, and then advise him to be more careful with it?

It also got me to wondering, was it the same kids who had actually maimed themselves with woodburning kits the kids who would later grow up to be bureaucrats working at the Consumer Products Safety Commission and other nannystate agencies, determined that other children should not suffer the same fate as they? It's been an interesting voyage our society has taken -from the "oops" generation to the "Somebody-else-is-responsible-for-my-oops-and- I'll-sue-the-pants-off-you-get-my-attorney-now" generation. And it gets me to wondering what the next 50 years will bring.