There is that time in the spring when the snow isn’t quite melted yet that golfers get the itch to hit the links. A few always try to play even though there are a few remnants of snowbanks still in the shadows of trees and buildings. (Others just go south to Kansas City, Oklahoma City or Dallas.)

People who go on the ice in southern Minnesota in December are sort of the same. They are itching to get out there and enjoy their sports of ice fishing and snowmobiling. But unlike golf and other seasonal sports, going on the ice too soon presents a deadly risk.

When a person falls through, he or she (usually a he) pulls so many other people into the picture. The firefighters have to rescue him and his equipment. An ambulance crew has to rush him to the hospital. Doctors and nurses have to care for him. Family members and friends have to worry about him. Reporters have to write about him (no one enjoys sharing bad news). Police, firefighters and, if he dies, a medical examiner have to investigate what happened. And the public at-large gets to wonder what in the world possessed him to go on the ice so soon.

And all of these folks probably will have had other matters to attend to before he decided to take a foolish risk.

There will be plenty of time soon to enjoy frozen ice. Just be patient. Save a life — yours. Don’t venture on the ice.