Another In Niagara At Large’s Series Of ‘Signs Of Our Times’

By Doug Draper

Here is one of my favourite signs along the Niagara River corridor – erected by the Niagara Parks Commission some years ago for the benefit of any visitors to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls who might be a little bit on the daring side.

A sign one thinks would not be necessary except for the stupidity of the human species. Photo by Doug Draper

Don’t know if there are any comparable signs on the American side of the river but given how litiginous a society there seems to be south of the border (or east of the border in this case) the New York State Park authorities might want to post a few around Goat Island and Terrapin Point just as a matter of ‘due diligence’.

The sign literally warns people not to jump over a fence which is the last stop left before plunging hundreds of feet to rock and water below the roaring Horseshoe Falls of Niagara.

My view is that if you have to erect a sign like this to tell people it may be dangerous to jump over a fence protecting us from a death fall, it does not say much for the intelligence of our species when it comes to interacting with our surrounding environment, including the continued spewing of poisons into our air and water, and wrapping our wherewithal around more complex challenges like climate change. This sign might just as well say that when it comes to any of those things, there is little or no hope left for us.

If you have a sign or signs you want to contribute to our ongoing ‘Signs of our Times’ series, please send an image of it or them, along with your own caption on what you feel they mean for the state of the communities across our region, to drapers@vaxxine.com for Niagara At Large.

(Click on www.niagaraatlarge.com for Niagara At Large and more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater binational Niagara region.)