On the topic of asbestos fire proximity suits (but not really)

Sometimes, the inventions that we create to protect ourselves do just that. And sometimes they, over time, cause us great harm.

Back in the 1930s, manufacturers managed to develop a pretty effective suit to protect industrial workers from fires — made in large part with asbestos fibres. Back then, asbestos was more or less considered a wonder material and had so many uses — perhaps not too dissimilar to plastics today. You’ll still find it in old buildings all over the place — and dealing with it is an absolute pain in the ass because of the sheer level of precautions that you have to take to ensure that the tiny little insidious asbestos fibres don’t get anywhere.

What we know now that we didn’t know then, back when those industrial workers were suiting up and we were using it in our walls, floors, as snowflakes in the Wizard of Oz, was that asbestos fibres can cause various dangerous lung conditions, including lung cancer. By the 1970s, we started realizing the damage it caused and started phasing it out.

When I was a little kid, we moved around a lot from rental to rental. Seemed like almost every two years we moved. I remember in one of our houses that there was something about asbestos in one of the basements. My mom for sure thought she had been exposed to it. My memory of that time is pretty hazy, so I’m not entirely sure what happened with that, if it was asbestos, if something was done. The last apartment I rented also had asbestos in the basement. I remember talking with my husband about it. “As long as you don’t disturb it, it shouldn’t cause an issue.”

As long as you don’t disturb it.

At the time, it was protection. It’s only in hindsight that we see it for the harmful thing that it is. It’s unnerving to realize that something that was meant to protect is actually something that could cause great harm, or even death.

So why am I talking about asbestos?

Sometimes we develop ways to protect ourselves, when we’re young or naive, when we do not know any better and we’re working with what’s available to us. We spend years constructing it, building it strong, improving it, strengthening it. My husband talks a lot about synaptic pruning: removing what is no longer needed. Sometimes, without knowing it, we keep the thing that we should most shed.

When I was a little kid, a very little kid, I learned early on what I needed to do to protect myself. Be small, be good, be quiet, be helpful, be careful, engage in activities that will make people happy. It’s not safe to be yourself, so be something that will bring safety and security. My very own fire proximity suit. It protected me when I was too close to danger, and over the years I refined it and made it work for a wider variety of scenarios — school, jobs, romantic relationships, and every other situation where I knew I would get close to that fire.

My own fire proximity suit.

When they realized that asbestos caused all sorts of horrible health problems, they didn’t just snap their fingers and overnight the problem was solved. If only it were that simple. Sometimes the choices that we make have even longer term repercussions than we could ever imagine — lingering on for years. Like the asbestos-lined ducts in my old apartment.

When something is so engrained in our lives, in how we choose to build and grow, it takes time to fully remove it. It’s been over 50 years, and we’re still dealing with. I imagine it will be a long time yet before we even come close to fully dealing with it.

But at least we are on this side of it — fully aware and able to do something, even if the journey towards fixing it may feel a long way away.