Posted on 06/12/2010 9:51:14 AM PDT by Talisker
Chronic Traumatic Encephalophathy (CTE) is caused by repetetitive head trauma. It afflicts individuals similarly to early-onset Alzehimers. It is a degenerative brain disease that can cause death before the age of 36. Approximately 1 million young boys are exposed to this by playing Pop Warner football.
Injury and fatality rates due to youth participation in football are nearly 9 times higher than in sailing.
If there is to be a litmus test on parents putting children in danger, why not let it be football?
Does freedom mean anything to you?
How about the freedom to not have to pay for the rescue of someone else? Especially when the actions that got them in trouble was entirely unnecessary.
Maybe all the people who supports this girl should contribute to a fund that reimburses the Australian government, and the fishing boat that got dragged into this.
Then I will take their talk about “sense of adventure”, seriously, otherwise they are encouraging people who engage in reckless behavior expecting a third party to bail them out if things don’t work out. Hey, isn’t that what we are accusing the banks who made all those bad loans? Maybe we didn’t appreciate the sense of adventure those bank officers had.
“Are you really so meddlesome and small that you would demand jail time for the family? So much for “Free” Republic.”
Yep - it would be safer to give her drugs and booze than to give her a sailboat and say “bon voyage”. If I had a kid that was some kind of superstar (or potential superstar) the LAST thing I would do is parade the kid and ruin his life.
If she wants to go around the world at 16 fine - but the fact that I know about it CONVINCES me that she needs another pair of parents.
If this young girl ended up dead and missing, the family would’ve been, “I can’t believe we let this happen...”
Bingo all these people with their knickers in a knot screeching about people being anti freedom and pro nanny state when they aren't the ones who have to put their life on the line to rescue people who get into these situations
I'm sure when one these ventures costs several lives the families of the dead will be glad to to discuss how its nanny state-ism and anti freedom to point out the selfish folly of putting the lives of others in danger for a pr stunt
Yes it does and so does responsibly
there some 12 year olds who more mature then some adults but would you let one drive a car or fly a mig jet cross country?
Fantastic, clear-sighted post!
If it wasn’t, you certainly wouldn’t be getting all this flak.
Bravo!!
Beautiful and eloquent and dead on.
Sadly, I fear far too many have no idea what collectivism is, how evil it is, nor know how to identify it within themselves.
Boy, you’re sure making a big deal out of this. Are you related to this girl or friends with the family? Why take this situation so personally?
I never even heard of this girl until she got into trouble. If she would have made the trip successfully she would have been mentioned on the Fox Report with Shep Smith during the Around the World in 80 Seconds segment and then forgotten. You’re making it out that she’s today’s Columbus or Earhart, and she’s not. What she’s doing or tried to do has been done before. Now if she someday decides to do something original that makes the world a better place I might get interested and get as charged up as you are today, but for now put me in the “been there, done that, seen it before” column.
Who said you were going to pay for the rescue?
“You are the reason I want to move to a rural county. I don’t want to live in an aggressive interventionist community. Freedom and meddlesome neighbors cannot coexist. Our founders would be stunned what the people in this country have become. “
Sorry - but you should see my postings on air bags and laws forcing kids to sit in the back of a car (where they fry every Houston summer), before passing final judgment. I just have a problem with publicity-seeking parents WRECKING the lives of their kids, and especially putting them in such danger.
Ah, you made a very generalized statement about people not being free if they were unwilling to accept the consequences of other people’s actions—which, incidentally, was the stupidest remark I have ever seen in seven years of reading this forum. I replied in a very generalized way, and I think, on the whole, I was very charitable toward you, considering the nature of your gaffe.
My best friend had not heard about Abby, so I told her, plus all the commentary I had been reading. Her response was, “I was living on my own when I was 16.”
Obviously this was addressed to you, Crim. And for you others addressed by this post...grow up and get a life of your own.
That is true. The choices that were made were contingent on her age. She only acquired the vessel in mid-October and hadn’t even had a proper sea trial.
The ironic thing is that after Jesse Martin made the voyage some years ago at 17 and set the record for the youngest solo nonstop unassisted circumnavigation (whew) the governing body of sailing determined that it would not recognize the “record” due to the danger of younger and younger children seeking to break it.
So Jesse Martin is, and always will be, the official record holder.
And BTW, the same debate raged in Australia wrt Jessica Watson and there is an even younger Dutch girl, Laura Dekker, who is seeking to make the journey (she is currently 15) and is battling in court to be allowed to do so (her father supports it, her mother does not).
I was not aware of that.
I feel the more we learn about this the more people are going to learn that parental ego is heavily involved
Check some of the sailing blogs. And Latitude38 online sailing magazine has a good article on the situation.
I’m not good at posting links, but google the name. The article is called Abby is Alive.
Most serious sailors questioned this trip before it even began due to the circumstances. Of course the hysterics on both sides of the issue are blinded to the true facts of the case. It’s a bit more than an inspirational tale of adventure. If you want that read Lionheart, the Jesse Martin story.
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