[pct-l] Sorta OT - Reaction to Abby Sunderland's Rescue

[Bob Bankhead]

Opinions are like noses; everybody has one.

Our two children are now both grown and out on their own. I can state categorically that even after 30 years of parenting, it's a responsibility you can never seem to put down; we still try to keep an eye on each of them. When they are tiny and new, just beginning to explore their world, parental paranoia runs rampant. No one wants to be arrested for child endangerment. We dare not be perceived as "bad parents". We hover; we stand guard upon the wall; our radar is ever tuned for danger from without, whilst often blind to danger from within.

A wise man once told us that it was NOT our job to keep the kids from making mistakes. Mistakes are part of the learning process. Our job is to keep them from making a FATAL mistake. We finally accepted the wisdom of that, and our kids DID manage to survive to adulthood, despite the various lessons they endured from the school of hard knocks. They went out into the world much stronger and more self confident than most of the kids with whom they grew up.


"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships were built for."


Abby is described as being a life-long sailor. Her family has a long personal and professional history with boats and sailing. She appears to have been well trained, well-equipped, confidant, and with a lot more sailing hours under her young belt than most of those currently lounging around on their $300,000 sailboats. Sailing 'round the Horn", the Indian Ocean in general, and the Roaring Forties in particular are infamous for their storms. She took up the challenge; the ocean won.............this time.  In that respect, she is not unlike the thru-hikers who must leave the trail for reasons beyond their control; the trail will still be there for you when you return. So too for her will be the sea.

Go, Abby. You were obviously born with parents who love you, and who allow your spirit to be free rather than crushed. You'll just have to learn to live with it.


Wandering Bob

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Ellzey 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 11:03 PM
  Subject: [pct-l] Sorta OT - Reaction to Abby Sunderland's Rescue


  So by now moist everyone knows about Sutherland's rescue. There was an article in the LA times about her reaction to people condemnation of her age and the season she made the attempt. Nothing really surprising until I started reading peoples comments. 

  Take a look for yourselves at the LA Times Article: 
  http://tinyurl.com/33mkznb

  My company is working on a project that has made me look at how generation X and (even more so) the millennial generation are abandoning experiencing nature. One of the more disturbing factors is what I have come to call "The Fear" that people permeate in discussions regarding experiences that occur out in natural. Also, having just finished reading "Last Child in the Woods" as part of my research for this project it was especially poignant for me to read the comments from people about Abby's failed attempt.

  All of my context for my research has been related to why young people are not hiking, camping, fishing, hunting or just playing in the local woods anymore. But the response in the comments of this article are also blatantly ripe with "The Fear" that parents are now passing on to their kids. 

  Our daughter was 15 when she spent her first summer working a pack station in the central Sierras. My wife and I were not naive to the unique dangers she would be exposed to working with large animals over treacherous terrain but we were also certain it would be a rewarding experience for her that would help shape her in a way that High School could never do. I won't bother to go into all the details but she is 21 now and by far the most grounded person I have ever met in her age group.

  So were Abby's parents reckless in supporting her quest to circumnavigate the world? You can guess my opinion, but I would like to hear from a group of people of whom most are not influenced by "the Fear".

  BigToe