Haha , you are getting it backward. That young lady is not about getting 15 mins of fame. She has been out there since Jan, sailing half way around the world by herself. Being able to that means she can also accomplish many great things in the future. It's about living life to the fullest. Push yourself and be all you can be (sic) ... For your part, whether you go take a gun and shoot yourself in the head now or go out to the neighborhood store and get shot by accident or die when you are 80, 90 yr old ... does not matter ... Tell me who will mourn you when you go? Tell me if it affects anyone or anything one iota? If you can't do or even attempt anything special ... ask yourself whether this world needs millions people like that? More importantly, don't you dare go calling that young lady and her parents stupid. It's what I object to about most people's attitude ... That is why I tell them off.
When you are applying to harvard or standford you will have a lot of applications saying I started I started a non profit doing blah blah blah and I did this and that, and then you have one person saying they circled the world by themselves in a boat. You know who story is more interesting and more likely to get in?
Apparently sailing a boat is 'living life to the fullest' and the most important accomplishment a person can do. Here's video of rage explaining it in more detail. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7yfISlGLNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7yfISlGLNU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
You are acting like the girl discovered a cure for cancer. Many people have sailed around the world, it isn't THAT special. What if she had the potential to do something really ground breaking but instead died all alone to hypothermia in some remote part of the sea and nobody would remember her after a while. Yeah, what a success that would have been. Maybe the parents could have gotten to cry in some news reports and maybe even in some ****ty documentary made for morons but the end result would be pretty much the same: after the novelty has worn off, nobody cares. What is she going to do next, go base jumping and break her legs and then lie in a hospital while some country's taxpayers pay her medical bills?
and you will be mourn this girl when she dies . . because unless everyone else. . . she was special Rocket River yea right . .
Give me a break. What kind of difference in the world did she make? An entitled little girl gets to feel special because the world's attention is on her for 15 seconds because she failed at her dream and wasted thousands of dollars worth of resources. I don't think that is special at all. I think that is incredibly stupid. Now, my best friend on the other hand, who will probably never make headlines or own a yacht, because he is busy providing for his illegal mother and younger siblings, taking care of his severely autistic little brother, and managing to outperform everyone in school...I think he is the embodiment of special. There are millions of people like that, that deal with their own exceptional struggles and have great effect on the people around them. But you will probably never hear about them, so I guess they're not special.
I agree, your best friend IS special, and there are people like that, but how many among those on this board who said negative things about that young girl can claim the same?
I have no idea. And neither do you. I just relayed that to put things in perspective. IMO, on a scale of special, what she attempted is maybe a 1.
Glad the girl is ok. Do you even realize you are getting angry at people for doing the very thing you are doing right now?
Do you mean sitting in front of the keyboard? I guess I am guilty at that but if there is someone else out there doing thing like that young lady, I don't call her dumb. I'd think that's a huge difference.
I do have a fairly good idea, and I'm still waiting for them to prove me wrong. I am not holding my breath though. You can give her accomplishment a 1 if you want. I think that's bias. Spending 5 months out in the ocean by herself battling the elements? I think that is pretty good. The key thing is when she comes back, there are few things that she will be afraid of trying. I see her doing greater things in the future.
I understand the argument about doing something for yourself... proving to yourself that you can do it. She wanted to sail around the world because maybe she felt it was some kind of validation, or maybe she wanted to do it just because she could. But let's be honest here, she is definitely selfish, and her parents are probably just as selfish as well. It's not like she's composing her magnum opus, or making a medical breakthrough, or painting a masterpiece here... she's just sailing around the world in her boat. I don't think people's criticisms of her are as justified as they might like to think they are... what she did was on her own prerogative, and so what if her parents encouraged her? I'm sure she knew enough about the risks to acknowledge that something like this might happen... what bothers me though is her parents' argument back at the critics. Those criticisms are coming from people that are probably going to die behind their T.V.s? Yeah, maybe it isn't because they're rich enough or have enough time to own a friggin' boat and sail it around the world and risk their lives over something as pointless as that. You wanna accomplish something? You wanna do something great? Make art, be a scientist--don't take an ill-fated trip around the world.
Do you have any reason for seeing great things in her future? Have you researched the life accomplishments of people who have done what she tried to do and come to the conclusion that they make greater contributions than boring, ordinary people who will not be missed by anyone when they die because they are so worthless and pathetic?
Does doing something special mean doing a SINGULAR act that .00001% of the world has ever done? 1 recordable, symbolic event? Can special mean doing special deeds for people around the community? Does it mean pushing the limits of extremism? (blame society and culture) <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BhsTmiK7Q2M&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BhsTmiK7Q2M&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Thats what I think a lot of it is. The families in Marina Del Rey might seem like laid back beach community people. But its still about the prestige and competitive standing. They're trying to outdo the Pacific Palisades people. Its a crowded market in California for celebrities, artists and sports, business figures, politicians. Then extreme gaming, surf/ski/skate, outdoorsy type activities is like football in Texas to some in Cali. I think this is more a precedent putting pressure on parents to re-examine expectations and guidelines to kids. Because the boat trip CAN INSPIRE kids no doubt. Inspire them to challenge rules. How can it not?
