[Paddlewise] No protection/ Risk vs Reward

I won't copy the comments already made on this topic here, but I would just like
to add one somewhat philosophical observation.  I'm sure we've all seen the
opinion expressed that life-threatening risks should be avoided under almost all
circumstances.  In other words, offered the proposition that -- "If you take
this risk and win, you get X reward (say $100, just to put it into a fairly "low
yield" reward); but if you lose, you die" -- many or most people would say they
would avoid this proposition under all but the most dire or unusual
circumstances and would think it fool-hardy for anyone to do otherwise.  Right?
And yet, who amongst us wouldn't drive, say, one mile through town to get a
"free" $100?  By driving that one mile, you *have* taken a life or death risk (a
small one, but a risk nonetheless) in exchange for a mere $100.  Heck, I'll bet
some would risk their lives in this way for much less (like to see a movie or
buy a latte).

We make these kinds of choices every day.  And the risk of death is one that we
consciously or unconsciously take all the time.  The only question is how each
of us chooses to balance the degree of life-threatening risk against the
perceived reward -- which, as I've tried to show above, aren't always even "big"
rewards.  How does the death-risk/reward from driving to work (to earn a
paycheck) differ from the death-risk/reward from paddling in cold water without
a drysuit or paddling on a hot day without wearing a PFD?  Only by the relative
degree of risk and perceived reward.  Ultimately it is a personal choice.

Evan
Woodinville, WA.


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