This isn't a literary reference to Erica Jong and sexual liberation. I mean it in the literal, I-don't-want-to-get-on-that-plane way.So I shall try to tattoo these statistics into my heart:
• The death risk related to flying in a commercial plane is 1 in 10 million, while the odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 5,000.
• In 2000, more people died in bicycle related accidents than in plane crashes.
• I'm flying American, one of the 10 safest airlines (as defined by number of reported "incidents").
I have the beginnings of a cold so I'm already feeling a little drowsy. Consequently I don't want to take the Xanax I will be carrying in my purse. But I will have it in my purse. And should my heart start beating so hard you can see it through my blouse (as if I was a character in a Warner Bros. cartoon), I will not hesitate to pop one.