If you’ve kept up even partially on the news, you might well have heard of the 16 year old girl who wanted to boat around the world or the 13 year old boy that wanted to scale Mount Everest. That 16 year old is currently lost on the high seas [she’s been rescued since I wrote this] since she started her goal.
I think the parents of these two children need a talking to. And maybe they should have to repay the public for any necessary rescue operations. As Dr. Phil keeps pointing out, teens’ brains aren’t even finished forming yet. Indeed the caution centers that let them see around corners haven’t finished growing yet. So I am a firm believer that minors should not be allowed to try death defying anything.
I believe this so strongly that I believe “youngest ever” records should be stricken from the news. Or books. Or any recording. Teens and teeny boppers and kids don’t need to have temptation facing them in the news. The attention shown will probably draw more kids into wanting this “success”.
And it is death defying. Whole ships are still sometimes lost at sea, with much more than a single boater. Over 175 people have died somewhere on the top of Everest.
And you know I think I see the attraction for a 16 year old girl and a 13 year old boy.
The girl gets to get out from under her parents thumb. She’ll be all alone (theoretically) for months. What’s to stop her from inviting that cute boating boy out to visit her in international waters. She has to navigate around the world, surely she can guide him out to her ship. She could invite out friends and have an “I got rid of my parents” party. She could be out there experimenting with alcohol and drugs.
As for the boy, he’s probably heard about the over 175 bodies on the top of Mount Everest. To his 13 year old self, that alone could be the attraction. Maybe he could poke some of these bodies with a stick. He could also do the low level prank of mixing the gear up from a few bodies. If ever someone did a recovery operation, they might have to get the DNA evidence to match everybody with their right stuff.
You might be angry with my giving this pair motivations that sound base and immature. I’m sorry but many teens and teeny boppers are like that. If their motivations are pure, they can do it after the age of 18. So they won’t be the “youngest ever”. Tough. They made it to 18 alive which sounds like success from a real parent’s perspective.
18 seems a rather arbitrary cut-off date for establishing maturity or adulthood. Why not 16 (good enough for Manxmen), or 40 (as advocated in the Quran)?
All in all, there are fewer 16-year-olds who are endangered by sailing on the high seas than 16-year-olds who are endangered by driving on the roads. Perhaps more parents should prevent their children from driving, and more should be encouraging the independent thinking and self-reliance their children need to sail the high seas.
–Bob.