Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, almost died on Jan. 2. His heart stopped after a blow to his chest during a "Monday Night Football" game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to prompt attention by team trainers and paramedics, Hamlin survived, and America enjoyed a collective sigh of relief last week when he was released from the hospital.
An interesting national conversation developed during Hamlin’s first few days in the hospital, when it wasn’t at all certain that he would survive. Some commentators talked about Hamlin’s injury in terms of reassuring rationalizations: Football players are well aware of the risks that they take, they choose to take them, and they are very well compensated for accepting the hazards of a very rough sport.
Others tried to put Hamlin’s injury into perspective: All sports — indeed, all human activities — involve risk. They pointed out — accurately — that Hamlin’s cardiac arrest could have been induced by any blow to the chest at just the wrong moment, by, for example, a hard-hit baseball or a collision with another soccer player.
