Hey, a voice said, That's crazy. Who are these parents, and how did they get away with it? I wondered, did they have to sneak down to the coast? Were CPS agents following them? Will they be prosecuted, serve jail time, the children placed in foster care when Abby returns?
It actually made the news when she sent a distress signal and she lost satellite phone communication. Her last blog entry said her boat was tossing around in 30 foot waves. A rescue team set out to try and find her, and Thursday night her ship was spotted and she appears to be OK.
But the voice, the voice... "They're so busted" it said. "Surely they knew the laws beforehand, and they chose to break them."
Her mother's comment was, "Life is dangerous. If she stays here, she could die in a car accident." We can't let our lives be ruled by the chance of danger. Better to choose your own mode of death, and let it be glorious, than to be mutilated in a random, inhuman car accident.
Then it occurred to me.
She's on the OCEAN. The government doesn't have jurisdiction! That's how they can get away with it. That's how people escape the NannyState we live in - car seats, bicycle helmets, seat belts, gun licenses, warning labels, coffee temperature regulations - screw all that! The US Federal Government cannot tell us what to do, as are so used to, outside it's borders, in territory that no one owns - the sea.
Suddenly my reason kicked in, my opinion changed, like one roused from a deep slumber, like one emerging from a cave to see the sun for the first time, blinded by its brightness, but experiencing true reality, alive, heart pulsating, born again! "Yes!" I said, "Yes! Sail, Abby Sunderland, be free! Face the danger! Let no one look down on your youthfulness! Society will say you can't, you shouldn't, you might get hurt, you could drown. They, from their La-Z-Boys, before the glowing light of their televisions, sated, soft, rubbing lotion on their hands. But perhaps society has lost its ability to be reckless because the Guv'mint has been protecting us too long, because we've learned not to tolerate sickness or pain, because we run to the medicine cabinet at the slightest headache, or get expensive treatments for the first hint of a wrinkle. Go! Run to the sea! Risk it all and be human! Do something extraordinary and renounce the Big Brother state with all its intrusive protections! She has won my support, my admiration. Let the world keep silent.
spooner -
ReplyDeleteI heard on the radio that a pair of 9-year olds traveling by themselves somehow got their flights switched at a layover in Minneapolis. Child A got on the plane going to Child B's destination and Child B got on Child A's plane. Then I heard the grandparents interviewed and act all sanctimonious that the airlines would "screw this up".
And then it hit me -- how in the hell does a 9-year old get dropped off at the airport by themselves for a flight across the country? I mean who is at fault here!! the airlines, or the parents/grandparents? If I left my 9 year old at home by himself with the doors locked, I could have him taken away and CPS down my shorts! How does anyone let their child travel in an airport! I can only assume that the carrier had some program where they agreed to chaperone these kids, which may explain why air fare is going up. But still....leaving your kids with a total stranger? F-off, grandpa! Lose the sanctimony.
This has nothing to do with your blog, except the part about endangering a child. And I think your final sentiment is right. Personally, I don't care for the ocean , for sea creatures (unless cooked and served for dinner), for drowning, or for being alone. But that's me and not her. So hat's off to the chick. I wish she had made. She needs a bigger boat and try it again.
PS: kuddos on the Plato reference.