Every person that has gone down in history has accepted some level of risk. Martin Luther King accepted the risk of violent retaliation. George Washington accepted the risk of the failure of a country. However, by accepting the challenges of these risks, these individuals found success and changed the world around them. In the present world, the creative spirit and pure human nature that drove many of these individuals has been harnessed by fear. People have begun to fear the world around them. This predicament has the potential to crush the development of today’s world. However, there are still some individuals, risk takers, who contradict this pattern. Participation in extreme sports is the clearest category of these individuals. Although many people see these individuals as stubborn, inconsiderate individuals, these are the individuals who are still in touch in with the human experience of life. The current attraction towards risk taking is man’s attempt to reconnect with themselves and reintroduce an uncalculated side of life that builds upon the complexity of themselves and their experience of the world around them.
The claim that “safety has become the fundamental value of our times” is an accurate assertion. The way that we evaluate safety is what needs to be considered. Living in safety is not necessarily a bad thing. To evaluate safety is to weigh the risks of ones actions against the rewards. Living life with repercussions of ones actions considered is a smart way of life. However, when a person allows any indication of a repercussion to register as fear and inhibit the way of life is when the concern of safety has become overemphasized. Many people have heard of the psychological disorder germaphobia in which people are petrified of any contact with an unsanatized world. The people with this disorder typically become cut off from the world around them. Sadly, the growing fixation with fear is having similar effects. It has begun to change people’s way of life. I relate this trend to a newly married, white collar couple’s first child. The child is protected from every potential injury. Every aspect of the home is “childproofed”, chemicals are locked up, sharp corners are covered, fireplace mantles have blankets placed over their threshold. Although these steps may be necessary for an infant, many Americans have begun to strive to “childproof” their lives by making fundamental changes to their lifestyles. Like Mark Twain said, “Lying at home in bed is what I’m afraid of.” This quote displays the fundamental difference between the mindset of risk takers and those obsessed with fear. Risk takers have come to terms with fear and acknowledged that every aspect of life has risks that they must overcome to live their life.
The main reason that risk takers exist is because some individuals have come to terms with fear. Although they may not enjoy fear, they have learned to accept it and overcome it. “People are afraid of fear but fear is what keeps you alive, it’s your fear that stops you from standing right on the very edge; fear is the most important thing in survival; the most important thing.” Therefore, the unprecedented level of fear that has presented itself in the world has redefined the class of risk takers. The people that continue to live their life without random preventions of risk are those that can be considered risk takers. It is clear that this movement has changed the mindset of many individuals. When you look at the previous generation, many of these men are deemed as “stubborn old men” that don’t go to the doctor or look out for their health. Realistically, they are only living their life like everyone did before this movement began. In the past, a person did not go see three doctors for a simple cold; they ate oranges and took a bath. In the past, no one took five vitamins to prevent illness just to start the day. In this light, it is clear that an obsession with fear and the innate perils of daily life is a real movement. The fact that many of these people are considered stubborn points to how prevalent these changes have become. The majority of people have fallen into a repetitive lifestyle that in some aspects is limiting the productivity of society. Without risk, nothing can be accomplished. Was every inventor insured success and fruitful exploits? It takes some level of risk to approach new avenues of life and possibilities. The main fear is that the obsession with risk and fear has begun to hold society back. People need to understand that life must go on. For thousands of years, people have continued their daily lives without allowing the inherent risks of life to hold them back. The fact that some people have allowed these fears to control their lives is what drive the fundamentally different and desirable lifestyle of extreme sports participants.
Some people see participants of extreme sports as rather illogical people that have a death wish. Instead these people are harnessing their emotions and summoning the will power to look fear in the face. The term “edgework” has been deemed to acknowledge the skill set that many of these individuals possess. “Edgework is characterized as an emphases on skilled performance of the dangerous activity, involving the ability to maintain control over a situation that verges on complete chaos that requires, above all, ‘mental toughness’, the ability not to give in to fear.” These people have opted out of the daily patterned day of life that many of the people who are obsessed with fear practice. This lifestyle is attractive because these people are living an independent lifestyle free of many of the handicaps that many people place on their own lives. Risk takers lives are defined as the rawest form of human nature. They do not let cultural definitions define their lives. People are drawn to a lifestyle of extreme sports because it offers people the freedom and human experience that people’s lives have come to lack. This explains why so many individuals have begun to take advantage of vacation destinations that involve risk.
A lot of the attraction of commercialized extreme sports can be associated with the Medias portrayal of such activities. Technology has cut many of the risks that come with such activities much safer. Now, tourists can relatively safely participate in activities such as rock climbing, white water rafting, and bungee jumping. However, none of these activities are entirely safe. While rock climbing no one can control if a rock slide may occur or a rope may break. No one knows if a new current may occur over night due to rocks shifting during a downpour. No matter how many times a rope is checked, a bungee cord always has the risk of slipping its knot or simply breaking. The fact that there are always little factors that could bring death to a participant is the attraction that keeps risk takers and extreme sports activists coming. The week before I went white water rafting in Colorado, a child had drowned in the same portion of the river I was planning on trekking down. In a morbid way, this made the experience that much more exhilarating. Knowing that I was facing an experience that had taken life attracted me to prove that I could overcome the same circumstances. It is the escape from everyday life and the norms that come with it that attracted me and everyone else on the trip. My unique experiences point to the driving factor behind these practices. Humans desire to experience the rawest forms of their human nature and harness those feelings into a definable and unique experience. This explains why individuals will go out of their way to experience a risky side of life.
In short, I believe that we strive for success. People will always strive for longevity of life that comes with a safe way of life. However, it must be remembered that there is no surefire formula to living life. At any moment a drunk driver may strike a car on its way to work. While playing golf, an individual could be struck by lightning. These random occurrences are uncontrollable risks of life that a person must accept. By accepting that there will always be risk, the key to success is evaluating which risks are worth taking. Some of the wealthiest individuals are business owners. Would Steve Jobs have developed the electronic empire of Apple and the Iphone without accepting the burden of the inherent risks that accompany investing in a company and making a commercial appeal of a product? It is clear that although it is not necessary to the development of society to participate in activities such as extreme sports, mankind must learn to accept some level of risk if it desires to continue the productivity and development of society.
living dangerously 