Dear Ann Landers,
have this problem I don't know how to deal with. Seems every time I'm with my boyfriend I get injured. I mean physically. It's never anything serious but bad enough so that I'm concerned. I've been hit in the head with a Frisbee (twice), had a car trunk slammed on my shoulder, been burned by his cigarette and knocked out of a swinging hammock. I can't count the number of times I've been clipped by his elbow or stepped on. My guy enjoys a few beers but he never gets drunk or out of control. Somehow I feel his beer-drinking might have something to do with these ac-cidents. What do you think, Ann? . . .

dear ouch,
His beer-drinking could be a factor. Alcohol (yes, beer is an alcoholic beverage) releases the inhibitions and the more primitive be-havioral patterns take over. Freud says, "There are no accidents." You can take it from there. Here's another: dear ann: I was amused by all those women who wrote to tell you that their husbands accidentally hit them in their sleep. It set me to thinking. My husband always seems to be hitting me accidentally-when he's awake. For example, recently we took an auto trip and stopped at a service station to get a map. When A1 unfolded the map he socked me in the jaw. I saw stars. Last week A1 was undressing. He whipped off his belt and the buckle caught me in the mouth. He said he didn't realize I was so close. Yesterday he was hanging a picture and dropped the hammer on my head. A1 has burned me with cigarettes several times and it's always the same ex-cuse-he didn't know I was there. Do you think this means anything? KITTY dear kitty: It means A1 is careless, awkward, accident-prone and possi- bly venting some subconscious hostilities in a manner which leaves him blame-free. Your best protection is to be doubly alert when you're around him-and signal your position frequently. Dr. Quinn G. McKay of American Enterprise Management at the School of Business, Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, Texas, made the fol-lowing remarks in an article entitled, "People Just Don't Want to Be Safe." THE ANN LANDERS ENCYCLOPEDIA 15 "If we want to learn why people have accidents it is important to under-stand certain concepts about human nature. "The accident-prone individual is often regarded as a luckless sort who was born that way! More thoughtful people, of course, realize this is not so. "There is evidence that accident proneness is a matter of personal habit. There seems to be some relationship between people who are erratic in keep-ing appointments, people who are careless in the way they keep their cloth-ing, people who drop lawn tools haphazardly in the garage. They are also the ones who have a disproportionate share of accidents in the mine, or in the home, or wherever they happen to work. "If one could perfect a measure, there is a possibility that, in the selection process, one could identify before hiring those individuals who have person-ality traits that lead to accidents. This may also suggest that, rather than just preaching safety to those who tend to be accident-prone, they should be en-couraged to look at safety from a point of view of general carefulness and general concern about things. "Developing in a person a degree of meticulousness about his general life and orderliness may result in an automatic spillover into improved safety be-havior. "Another factor relating to the accident-prone is the desire for daring. In the lives of most men is the desire to live dangerously, to take a risk-get a new thrill. "When a group of truck drivers get together for a bull session, the man who holds the center place in the conversation is the one who can string out the most hair-raising driving experiences. The hero of many stories and TV shows is the one who is exposed to danger-auto accidents, shootings, etc.- and still comes out alive. "Being a nation of hero worshipers, we must tend to emulate uncon-sciously, if not consciously, the daring of these idols. Usually, these idols are not good examples of safe practices, but they do suggest manliness. "This is important, especially in a society where daily opportunities to dis-play physical prowess-an evidence of masculinity-are becoming fewer and fewer." credit: Ann Landers. 16 THE ANN LANDERS ENCYCLOPEDIA Acne