Coconut Theory

In response to an email from a future teacher, concerned about the safey of Turkey:

I was born in Australia. I meet people who say they would not go there because of sharks/snakes/spiders etc etc. However, more people are killed in the world by falling coconuts than all of these things put together. The chances of anything bad happening are phenomenally small. You cannot spend your life walking around wearing a helmet in case of falling coconuts!
My advice is to not sleep under coconut palms but do not avoid the coconut groves!

If your government says do not go somewhere, they are just covering their backs. They like to say, I told you so. They are also perpetuating a state of fear that keeps people, in their homes, watching their TVs and mindlessly consuming; without going out and challenging the stereotypes that they are force feed from cradle to grave.

To create peace in this troubled world, people have to interact with each other and realise that the similarities of all humans are far more important and common than the things that divide us.

Anyway, that is my opinion. If you are going to be killed by a falling coconut, you are going to be killed by a falling coconut. Some things are out of your control!