Posted on 06/12/2010 9:51:14 AM PDT by Talisker
So Dude, do ya feel any better now?
I think most comments are slamming the parents and not the girl. Meanwhile, driving a car two miles to the local mall is not even remotely close to sailing across the oceans.
Have you ever even sailed? Well, I have. I used to sail on Lake Erie, which is the most dangerous lake as it is shallow.
This girl might be responsible. Great. What’s the big darn rush. And as for soldiers in our history being 16, that didn’t make it right and a lot of those kids died, crying for their mommies.
This was spot on and in spite of the nay sayers you nailed it. A liberal friend of mine was wringing here hands over her son going to a summer camp. Iasked her if you would feel bettr if she was still wet nursing him and wiping his 14 year old butt? She didn’t really appreciate the question, or the implication.
I am pretty protective ...But I do allow Sassy on horses & I get heat for that. I hear she is just 10 & you let her on a huge horse that could throw her...Her trainer is right there & yes it could happen. But you have to live. I am not going to put her in a bubble. So far she is doing really well but there will be tosses & sore bottoms. But that is life.
I see teens driving that IMHO shouldn't be. IF their parents had a clue they would take the car away hopefully. But I see so many parents who really don't seem to care. I have teen drivers in my neighborhood who fly through here. We try & talk to the parents & they scream their little darlings do not drive like that. Finally some of us moms with young kids called the cops & they sat an undercover car here & caught them....
I prayed Abby would be safe. I don't think I could let my child do it but I don't know Abby or her parents. Some children are more mature then adults I know...
he he.
I know next to nothing about sailing or what kind of preparations were made for the Sunderland adventure. Like most non-sailors reading about this, I made the logical assumption that the attempt was carefully planned with plenty of safety precautions in place, which seems to have been proven correct. I also assumed that Abby Sunderland was considered by her parents to be proficient enough to make this attempt, solo.
I never believed the characterizations I've read (here and elsewhere) that attempted to portray Abby's parents as greedy publicity-seekers that deliberately put their teenage daughter in mortal danger out of some pathological desire for reflected glory. I thought those characterizations were ridiculous. I still do.
Like most, I don't know all the intricate details associated with Abby Sunderland's attempt to sail around the world by herself but I did think it was a risky proposition. Others have succeeded - but many have failed. I admire the girl's courage and determination and while some facts may eventually come to light to change my mind, I see no reason to trash the girl and/or her parents motives.
Although I'm not in full agreement with the title post's assertions that your reactions to Abby Sunderland's aborted quest determines your political mindset, I do believe that some people just want to criticize others, often in the harshest terms possible - and the anonymous internet is a great place to do so. Those folks can be ignored. Meanwhile, I share the relief of many that Abby Sunderland is safe.
Conservative does not necessarily mean “uses one’s brain.”
I suppose bungee jumping will be the next example used to show how independent thinking people can act, or base jumping...
The idea that one should not make an attempt at something like this is saying that all the great inventors and innovators should have just stayed home in bed.
This is the lamest opus I’ve ever seen.
Look. If you are gonna get your panties all in a wad over one stupid indicent, then go all the way:
1. Start a Flame War.
2. USE LOTS OF CAPS!!!
3. Ping Jim Robinson
4. State clearly you are never coming back.
5. GTFO
well stated!!!
I dont let my 18 or 20 year old take my boat out alone...
Flying a plane around the world is not sailing the oceans...and Miss earhart couldnt do it as an adult.
Not really such a good example after all...
After reading some of the back and forth, I really think it’s only a few bed-wetters posting over and over again. A lot of it seems to stem from those who think something magical would happen when she turns 18. Abby might not be a legal adult in the United States, but she is not a child, either. What she accomplished is quite impressive, and I imagine she will accomplish much more. Obviously, trying to sail solo around the world is not for everybody. There are many things that are not for everybody, which is why the extraordinary is extraordinary.
We have our share of nanny-staters and bed-wetters on the Right.
The point being...they shouldnt have HAD to rescue her...
This is true of every human being on earth? Generalizations are the stuff of wimps.
Exactly, I think it was an excellent point. I realize Amelia Earhart didn’t make it, which was my point entirely.
If she had made it around the world safely the same people denigrating her and her parents would be congratulating her.
Your post is spot on.
very good point.theres no doubt she's a very unusual girl.
but I am skeptical when thousands of dollars and sponsorships are involved
And the original posters screed ignored how much parental ego might be involved here
Prince Henry
Prince Henry spent his entire fortune funding many voyages of exploration as well as projects in navigation, ship design, astronomy, and mapmaking. His expeditions included the islands of the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape Verde Islands, and the African coast as far as present-day Sierra Leone.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus dreamed of becoming a sailor. At age 14 he made his first voyage on an Italian ship. Columbus tried to raised the money for his West Indies expedition but no one would give him the ships he needed. Finally the king and queen of Spain gave him three ships; the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria...
...He landed on the shores of America. Adventurous people with a hearty spirt settled and 500 years later a 16-year-old girl took to the seas repeating the quest of the great sailors before her.
Notice the flag on that vessel.
If that is not enough for you, she is an American. Have you lost the spirit? Are you so beaten down by your government that you have become sheeple, lost, a complaining coach potato?!
I hope she gets a new mast and finishes her adventure! That's the American way, or at least it used to be.
In other words, stop your bellyaching and start rooting for the home team!
Yes!
You are inside of my head, brother. I think it has way more to do with the parents...just like that little environmental wacko kid I read about about a year ago... her thoughts, likes, and interests are her “parent’s.”
Let the kid enjoy her life. They grow up fast enough. All these people talk about her independence but what’s the big deal for her to have waited two years? Oh, that’s right, all of the money would not be there b/c then she wouldn’t be the youngest girl or whatever other goal she was trying to set.
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