Passionately anti-airbags?

It seems that everyone is passionate about something that goes against the grain of 90% of the population and in some cases even against common sense.

Some people sit on the fringe, believing, for example, that the 9/11 attacks on New York City were an inside job by the U.S. government.

Others hold to minority positions that have a few more followers than the fringe, such as arguing that vaccines are bad for us. Even this position is sometimes taken to the fringe with the notion that the U.S. government is conspiring to infect its population through vaccinations.

When I was in high school, I jumped on board a rather peculiar "anti-" bandwagon: airbags.

I was in driver's ed. and had to write a paper. I don't think there's a much more boring class for which to write a paper than driver's ed. What are you supposed to write about, the advantages of automatic and manual transmissions in various driving conditions?

I decided to write about the effects of airbags. More precisely, I wrote about the NEGATIVE effects of airbags.

I found a story of an arm that was shattered when an airbag went off in a parked car. I wrote of little children injured when airbags went off for no apparent reason in a still vehicle. Who knows, I may have even found a government conspiracy in airbags.

I don't recall many of the other details of that class or that paper, but I do laugh in hindsight. I think I got a 50/100 on the paper. I'm sure I was annoyed by it and I probably I deserved it.

I can't imagine getting a car without an airbag now, but it helps to remember my well-meaning stance when I come across an idea that I think is really out there.

It's good to be reminded that there's always someone else who thinks that something I believe is really out there too.