Discussion for article #236472
Darwin.
That is all.
Potter lived more in forty-two years than all but a very few live in 80 or 90. One of the true adventurers of his generation.
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15s/wfeature-the-call-dean-potter-alp0
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Yes, opinion on the Internet seems to be either “he was awesome! What a way to go!” or “if the way you die is stupid and pointless, it likely means you were stupid.” It’s like asking people how they feel about cilantro; expressed opinions are clearly, and emphatically. binary.
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The thing is that this kind of guy is always being presented as if we are supposed to admire him. I’m impressed and appalled in equal measure. Impressed for obvious reasons, but it’s reckless, and I guess selfish. Presumably he had parents who loved him: siblings maybe: possibly a wife and kids. I’m not going to admire the guy any more than I’d admire someone who died of a drug overdose.
We all live under a death sentence. Every one of us. I’ve lost two good friends to cancer in the last three weeks. Both were about Potter’s age.
It’s not now many days you get. It’s what you do with the days you have.
I think Potter and Hunt were trying to shoot a gap like this one performed by Jokke Sommer - probably the best there is.
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Right and so why the implication that risking your life jumping off cliffs is a better use of the time you have? How about raising a child, caring for your neighbors, learning to play an instrument, volunteering–the are all sorts of things that would go into a well lived life. Taking pointless risks that benefit no one? Not so much.
Those other things are great. There is much good to be done.
But there are things to be learned and strengths that you would never find but for taking extreme risks.
He wasn’t out hurting others. He wasn’t giving police a reason for target practice at the local Twin Peaks titty bar
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Right, not doing evil, except maybe to the people who loved him. But no reason to hold him up as a hero either
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I didn’t say “better.” I would say “valid.”
Maybe not the best path for you or for me. But the best for Dean Potter. We are not all the same. That diversity of motives, of aesthetics, of capabilities, of ambitions, of dreams, is precisely what makes us human.
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Yes, sure.,why is this particular death presented as heroism and why are you claiming he’s “lived more” than most people?
I don’t have the words to describe the feeling of being in harms way and surviving. I don’t do it justice in trying to describe the slow-motion mental clarity you possess when doing something with a fair chance of injury or death.
Having felt that in my life it is hard not to say that he “lived more.”
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In part because Potter spent an unusually large fraction of his life following his dreams. Relatively few people have the opportunity to follow their dreams (whatever they are) so directly. Fewer still act on such opportunities with such ferocity and focus.
For example: one must know something about the history of alpinism to understand what it means to have soloed the route Supercanaleta in Patagonia, as Potter did in 2002. The level of strength, endurance, technical proficiency, and mental control that that — and dozens of other things Potter did — demonstrates, is world-class.
That’s a ridiculous definition of “lived more:” it’s a kind of nihilistic romanticism. By all means, do these things and enjoy them if you like–by all means. Just don’t enoble your adrenaline junkie behavior and act like you’ve “lived more” because you got a rush. Life is lived in complex ways and there’s meaning in all of them
Here again, lots of people live their entire lives “following their dreams.” Their dreams involve family, career: they follow their dreams and they devote lots of intellectual moral and physical energy to following their dreams. Some dreams are better than others. Some dreams are selfish, some dreams aren’t. Some dreams involve recklessness, some don’t. There’s a corporatized thrill seeking culture–look at all the logo on the gear, look at the sponsors–that sell people like you on the idea that this is heroic. Sell more of the very appropriately named Red Bull.
I think it’s fine if you want to jump off cliffs–go ahead, it’s your life. But it’s got a bunch of moral implications–as mentioned, I wonder how his parents felt about it?–and I’m not going to buy the argument that it’s noble or heroic because GoPro or Cliff bars sponsored a video. EXTREME!!! Everything has moral implications, sure. Like I said, I kind of admire it and kind of think it’s ridiculous.
My condolences on the loss of your friends, especially in such a short time. I’ve been to more funerals in the last year than in the previous five, myself… But the number of days you get is kind of a big deal. And if all you do with them is sit outside in the woods and watch birds and small animals, each and every one you manage to eke out is precious beyond price and wasting all the things you might experience in the days that follow trying to make one of them perfect is stupid.
But hey, our lives are the only thing we really own. And, if you choose to spend those precous bonus days sitting in front of Fox News all day or otherwise working yourself up into a constant state of fear and rage and anxiey and bitterness, yeah, better to have died first.
Your dedication to social conformity is seen and noted.
Well, good for you! Here’s a cracker! (Of course, no one here was making that argument.)
Extreme athletes like Dean Potter don’t play with death for fun. They play with life for their own pesonal fulfillment. Dieing while doing what gives you the most pleasure in the world is one helluva way to go. Sad to see him leave so early, but we should all be so lucky to die while engaging in an activity that gives meaning to our lives, instead of a long, protracted agonizing death that religion and the medical industry insists upon for all of humanity. He certainly enjoyed every minute of his life, right up to the end. His athletic endeavors, quite obviously, were not appropriate for everybody, but he found his niche that gave his life a purpose, and he lived life to its fullest. Well done!
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