# PonderIt

## Tuesday, May 23, 2006

### Dumb Risks

President Faust gave a talk in Priesthood session where he warned the young men about taking foolish risks.

> Why did he jump [from an 80 foot cliff into the water]? What was he trying to prove? The young men who dared him didn’t care and probably don’t even remember that foolish act. But Kieth realized afterward that he had made what could easily have been a fatal decision. He had yielded to the pressure of friends expecting him to do what he didn’t want to do. He knew better. He said: “I was living in the world, and at that moment I was of the world because I was not in control of myself. I was not making decisions about my own life. The world made the decisions for me, … and [I] had barely avoided being in the world about six feet deep.”

A story on NPR this week illustrated the result of such decisions. An extreme skier, whose goal it was to be first person to ski backcountry mountain slopes, died at the age of 48. Not a bad old age for such a risky sport as the commentator seems to admit. The sad part is that he was not a bachelor. He left behind a two year old child. A child that must grow up fatherless because his father thought seeking thrills was being productive. I'm not convinced.

#### 3 Comments:

- Dumb indeed.

  By Eric Nielson, at 5/23/2006 8:58 AM

- Wait until you get to be middle age. Your body starts doing a few things the remind you of your inevitable mortality. Many (especially from the Boomer generation) have difficulty accepting this and want to do anything they can to try to prove to themselves and to everyone else that they're going to beat the Fall of Adam (mortality).
  This sentiment isn't limited to men, but they seem to take a more extreme tack. Some buy sports cars or motorcycles. Some divorce and look for a younger mate. Some produce offspring to prove that they are still virile. Some run marathons. Some get into extreme sports. Some have cosmetic surgery. This takes lots of forms.
  Boys and young men do stupid things in a vain attempt to prove they are men (i.e. mature). Middle aged and older men do stupid things to prove they are still men (i.e. in the pime of life). This latter group often are simply trying to overcome the Fall of Adam using carnal means. When will we ever learn that it is only in and through the Savior's Atonement that the Fall will be completely overcome?

  By Reach Upward, at 5/24/2006 8:23 AM

- Thanks for linking that to the Fall. That is an important angle on the story that I missed.

  By Bradley, at 5/24/2006 9:22 PM

Post a Comment

<< Home

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.