The Urge to Fix: Naivete on Display

Bad things happen. When bad things happen, it seems that nowadays the urge is to fix the circumstances that led up to the bad thing happening so that it never happens again. At least, this seems to be the first reaction when a bad thing happens.

I hear this reaction to bad things happening from persons interviewed by the new media, from pandering politicians, from unfortunate victims and from the family and friends of the unfortunate victims. This reaction is the display of naivete.

It is absolutely unreasonable to expect to prevent a bad thing from happening again. The most that can be expected is that the odds of a bad thing happening again may be reduced, but even this result cannot be guaranteed. There are simply too many variables involved in the occurrence of a bad thing to expect absolute control over whether or not a bad thing happens again. That being the case,  then whence the urge for a permanent fix?

I attribute it to the naive belief that there are absolutes that can be obtained by force of will. More later.