A Sad Week


From TheTimesOnline April 16:

Six students and a teacher were killed when they were swept down a flooded river during an adventure course in rugged New Zealand bushland yesterday

The 16 and 17-year-old students were part of a group of 40 from Elim Christian College in Auckland who were attending a week-long course with the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre near Turangi, 320km (200 miles) north of Wellington.

So young with so much to look forward to and now no more. I believe these children were let down by adults and by a culture that believes that outdoor adventure sports are essential for young people. They were barely more than children and they were canyoning in the mountains of New Zealand during stormy weather. Adventures are risky and are really the realm of expendible young men who know and take the risks. We shouldn’t expose children to such dangers.

Why am I writing about this on my Active Survival blog? Well, if we manage to prolong life dramatically it will be interesting to see how we approach adventurous activities. Let’s say they manage to prolong life indefinitely. Do you think people would still race motorbikes or sky dive? If your body regenerated itself forever how long would you expect to live for? It seems a strange question but regeneration will not guarantee immortality. A fatal accident could still occur and while I don’t have a reference I read somewhere that Insurance company data predicts that we will have a fatal accident every 1600 years on average. If your body never aged eventually your plane is going to crash and burn.

The Active Survivalist needs to stay sharp, stay alert and not take undue risks.

Advice to parents: Don’t let your children get involved with anything to do with rivers – they’re fukkin dangerous. I’m quite angry about it actually.