Opinion Articles

*Base Motives?
By Tracey Edstein
Tracey Edstein is the editor of Aurora, the newspaper of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

With monotonous regularity, newspapers and electronic news bulletins report cases where an individual, usually male, has engaged in a thrilling but dangerous pastime and has lost his life.

For example, a recent case concerned a young man who died base jumping. Base jumpers leap from fixed points such as cliffs, buildings and bridges. It is illegal and highly dangerous. Bizarrely, this man was travelling to attend the funeral of a friend who had died - base jumping. Whether either of the men had partners or children was not reported. Each almost certainly had parents, siblings and friends.

In a more recent case, a man died attempting to retrieve the body of another who had died in an underwater diving accident - ten years earlier! His gesture was a kindness to the family of the first victim, but surely their grief was only compounded by the futile loss of another life?

Invariably, those close to the deceased claimed, "He died doing something he loved." Perhaps - but is that really sufficient consolation fpr the loss of life? Will a partner left to raise a child or children alone be genuinely comforted by this empty cliché? Will the child or children growing to maturity without the guidance, love and support of one parent, usually the father, draw positively from the conclusion that "s/he died doing something that s/he loved"?

When others who regularly engage in such risky pursuits hear reports of deaths - or indeed witness them - I wonder if they stop to reflect on the possible consequences of their own choices for their loved ones? Or do they simply believe - to use another cliché - that "It won't happen to me"?

Certainly life is inherently risky. In the popular film Strictly Ballroom dancer Scott says "A life lived in fear is a life half-lived." However, the courage demonstrated by this character is moral rather than physical. He endears himself to the audience by recognising, and proclaiming, that his father is not the wimp he has been led to believe, but rather a daring man who chose "the road less travelled" at intense personal cost.

I suggest that society needs to give due recognition to moral courage, pergaps at the expense of lauding those whose most significant achievement is propelling themselves at high speed, whether behind the wheel or at the end of a cable, or scaling high mountains where oxygen cannot be assumed.

We praise such adventurers even as we bury them. Yet whistleblowers are often maligned and their lives made unbearable. Individuals who challenge the prevailing social mores are often lampooned or simply dismissed. I suspect there is something particularly Australian - but not particularly commendable - in the rhetorical "Who does s/he think s/he is?"

The mountain climbers, base jumpers and speedsters among us will always be a minority, and will ultimately make their own decisions. Each of us, however, needs to decide daily where we stand - or fall - on less risky, but ultimately more consequential matters.