…always sad to read about the weekly deaths associated with paddling. The Chatanooga incident with the little girl reminded me again how dangerous the water can be sometimes… …then the whole JFK Jr. thing happens and all the press. The social costs associated with risky activities are quickly exemplified right after the Chatanooga rescue/body recovery attempts… …and now an intense discussion on the Paddlewise mail list about safety equipment and the Romans. A reminder of the risk vs. rewards of our chosen activity… We can’t go thru life without risk. Those that try to eliminate almost all risky activities are either impractical or extremely *BORING* people. I realize that I take risks everyday. Tho, I feel safer paddling the bays of San Diego than driving the streets of Boston… where one-way signs are merely a suggestion… ;) However, I do object to the logic of: “…it’s my life and I’ll do what I want to…”. It is often thrust upon me when the topic of risk comes up. When you decide not to wear a helmet when the activity (or law) demands it, then you are not only risking your health, but my enjoyment of the activity. When you crack your head on a rock, I’m going to feel obligated to help you out. My enjoyment is greatly decreased and may even cancel my activity participation altogether. When I get to say I told you so, or think it, most of the time it doesn’t make up for the altered plans due to the accident…and I am going to feel bad :( . Therefore, almost all individual risk has cost to the larger group. Some risk is of course acceptable. The excess risk is not. Your risk IS in part my risk. Your risk is going to cost me some expected value of my enjoyment. Involving excess risk is inconsiderate to the rest of the group. Ignoring the requests of a trip host is just plain rude. Now, I am not going to get into the philosophical debate of what is acceptable risk. We are never going to agree. All I ask is that one takes into account the price other members of the group or society as a whole pays when you engage in risky behavior. Of course, some are better at assessing risk than others. The experienced, trained, and laws are pretty good guidelines to follow when you are unsure of your capabilities. I’m willing to bet that almost all paddlers that have become a statistic, misjudged their abilities and/or conditions. I doubt that in hindsight that many would think the rewards were worth the risk. In SF, I always wore a wet suit whenever the water was too cold for a confident quick re-entry. The PFD was a given. In SD bays, well I risk the donning of wet suits and PFD in the warm calm water near land. Although I always carry my PFD. In riskier activities such as kayak surfing and water polo, I always don my helmet and PFD. Not wearing a wet suit when the water is too cold for a reasonable re-entry time is not acceptable. I guess, in some perverse way, I consciously or subconsciously calculate and weigh my risk vs. reward of my behavior as much as possible. I guess it is a product of a technical background. In no way am I always even close, but I try. Finally, the value of life and the externalities of losing one. The recovery of a little girls body from the Chatanooga or a JFK Jr. from the Atlantic has real $ costs associated with them. Everyone has opinions on whether recoveries are worth tens of thousands for a little girl or a $1 million for a Kennedy. There have been many good arguments in the past about environmental costs to society. Of course the value of a life is perceived differently depending on your point of view. My brother’s life is worth more to me than he is to you and vice versa. Just cold facts. In some bizarre way, society actually puts a dollar value on the average life of a human being. By not spending $50,000 on a guardrail or divider on a dangerous road where there are X number of deaths each year, places a $ value for those lives who travel that road. $’s spent on body recoveries DO cost future lives. Safety measures or training & warning literature can be pretty inexpensive. Now, I am not against recoveries, but social costs should be taken into account. By my guesstimation, the average life is “worth” on the order of ~$10,000. That is society can spend ~$10,000 to save one expected tragedy. I may be way off, but I think the number is much lower than most people think. And yes I do think a President’s life is worth more to society to save than a convict’s on death row. Although, obviously not true from the perspective of the individual’s affected circle of lives. That is not to say that a Kennedy recovery is not worth $1 million dollars. You may find social value in the implications of the body recovery. I leave that up to the reader. For me, I value my life as $8,376.02 to society. Priceless to me, my friends and family, but below average to society. ;) So much for my ramblings. This may not be as entertaining as learning how to pee in a kayak, but hopefully thought provoking nonetheless… Live long and paddle, Albert Wang *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 8/6/99 5:05:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, awang2_at_san.rr.com writes: << The recovery of a little girls body from the Chatanooga >> I was wondering about this. Did I miss something? The last I recall was that the body was flushed out. Did they actually find it? Hope so and that the family were able to get the "closure" we spoke about. BTW- I write obituaries as part of my writing responsibilities. I read their personnel jackets, interview colleagues and family members, and realize how easily we can be snuffed out. And that's without taking any dangerous risks!! Although I work for a police department very few of the deaths are in-line-of-duty. Yesteray we buried our first African-American female police major - ruptured aneursm. She was 48. This has a tremendous effect on how I live my life - I play a lot, but try not to do anything foolish. And whenever I see of picture of me looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy while wearing my PFD I think: yeah, but if it keeps me alive, who cares? I just wish my friends wouldn't post them on their Websites!! Sandy Kramer Miami *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Fri, 6 Aug 1999 Sandykayak_at_aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 8/6/99 5:05:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, awang2_at_san.rr.com > writes: > > << The recovery of a little girls body from the Chatanooga >> > > I was wondering about this. Did I miss something? The last I recall was > that the body was flushed out. There was a report a couple of weeks ago that she had been flushed out and recovered about 200 yrds downstream. All that was recovered were bones. Steve Cramer Test Scoring & Reporting Services Sometimes you never can University of Georgia always tell what you Athens, GA 30602-5593 least expect the most. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Greetings, Wilderness Medical Associates uses this axiom, "If it's warm, wet, and not yours; use latex." Not much of a reach when it comes to "If it's cold, wet, and not yours; use neoprene." Bruce St. Augustine *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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