The escape route matters most when the ordinary route has stopped being ordinary.

You learn the value of an escape route at the moment the normal one fails. Until then it is a redundancy nobody thinks about, and its whole purpose is to be available on the day everything else is not. Its value cannot be assessed by how often it is used.

This is worth applying to the redundancies in your own life: savings, a second option, a relationship outside your main circle, a skill you do not currently need. They look like inefficiency right up until they are the only thing available. Spend a little on maintaining one this month, on the understanding that you will most likely never need it.