But Mom, he got to sail around the world!

How quickly do you think she gets a movie/book deal?

 

Chilidog's post is fantastic.

 

The tall poppy syndrome way of thinking on this post is depressing.

I am just waiting for someone to say "YOU THINK YOUR BETTER THAN ME!!!"

The family made it happen for their kids and the parents made the decision they felt was best for their family and kids. Not all kids/families/people are created equal but the scorn being heaped on someone for trying to something extraordinary is ridiculous.

 

The "scorn" has nothing to do with trying to do "something extraordinary." This "People hate others who are special" argument is fucking stupid. The problem people have is with what they see (rightly, I believe) as parents being incredibly irresponsible and putting their teenage daughter in danger.

 

Nobody forced her into the boat.

The thinking that many people have, that this was way too dangerous an undertaking for a teenager of either gender, is what would prevent many of us from trying such a thing no matter our age.

They don't think the way we do. I'm not saying they don't consider the risks, but they look at them differently. What we see as obstacles, even dangers, they see as challenges to be overcome. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that.

I'm sure they'd have been absolutely devastated if their daughter had died. But they'd have resorted to what so many of us regard as a cliche - "she died doing what she loved" - and I doubt very much that they'd regret for a second that they had let her do this.

 

Great. So Tiger Woods was doing what he loved to do when he was fucking all those women. They were all challenges for him to overcome.

I mean he is a super hero, or something like that, so this is OK.

Obviously some people look at this one way, and the others look at it another way.

 

What makes these kids so special????

Um, how about the very fact that they, um, would even think of trying to sail around the world, and would not be afraid to try, especiallygiven their non-ignorance about the sea and the risks of the sport?

How about the fact that they had the confidence and trust in themselves that they could do it? That is extraordinary because most kids don't have it.

How about the fact that they -- and their parents -- apparently thought of just about any eventuality that might come up, and made preparations for and ways to handle them, and then did so when the need actually arose?

Heck, Abby Sutherland painted a huge red heart on the keel of her boat, and although the heart almost certainly is an expression of her teenage-ness and girlishness, it was not done just for kicks or artistic flair. It was so that in case her boat did happen to turn over, it would be seen better from the air. Now tell me, would YOU have even thought to do that? Would your kid have thought of or done that? It strikes me as sort of casually, um, brilliant -- in a very practical and potentially life-saving way.

Even if you needed/wanted money and/or fame, would YOU have trusted your kids enough and had enough confidence in them to actually turn them loose to try it? Could you have? Most parents don't, and couldn't.

These parents apparently could, and they did. And what's more, their kids rose to that and justified the faith of the adults around them, whatever those adults' motives. That, to me, is pretty amazing and special, and really, it's what we all should and do want from our kids. Don't we?

And yet, how often does it happen? Hardly ever.

The son successfully completed his round-the-world sail. The daughter did not complete her trip, but how can you say she could not/did not handle hers, or was not ready for it? In the toughest circumstances, she, in fact, proved that she was ready for it. She responded exactly as she should have in the circumstances, something that often doesn't happen with kids who are in even the most ordinary situations.

Also, she kept in contact daily, almost constant contact with her family and travel team. Contrary to what was posted earlier by somebody, they never lost track of her, right up until her broken mast cut out her satellite radio. That was the only time they lost contact with her.

And, an hour later, Abby activated her emergency beacon, as she should have, immediately letting people know, as much as she could, where she was, and where to find her, and telling them that she needed help and they should come and get her.

I'm guessing that was after an hour of her trying to fix things, or seeing what she could do herself. I'm also guessing some of us have had teens who stayed out way too late without permission, or who didn't call us to let us know where they were for hours, so that we wondered where they were and what they were doing and why they didn't call. No? And Sunderland did better than that, under far more trying, dangerous and difficult circumstances. She reacted independently quickly, correctly, calmly, responsibly and, in short, maturely. In other words, she acted, apparently, pretty specially for a 16-year-old, because, again, do other kids always do that, even under ordinary circumstances?

To me, the fact that these kids can succeed in doing these things, and/or even fail successfully (yes, there is such a thing as that), means that they're apparently ahead of the game and kind of special.

It also means to me that, all the criticism notwithstanding, these parents are probably doing something right.

As to Care Bear's contention that the boat was inadequate to the trip, that was/is apparently wrong. The boat was fine until the mast broke. As far as I know, no sailboat will be any good without a mast.

Beyond that, the boat was apparently well-made and well-equipped, and was able to provide as safe a haven as possible for Abby in the midst of the storms. It had water-tight compartments that would make it difficult to sink, and would provide Abby with places to be as last lines of defense if they were needed in storms or if she was adrift.

It also had three emergency beacons, one of which would have automatically gone off if the boat had sunk. Her life vest had an emergency beacon. When rescued she had weeks worth of food and water on the boat.

Her parents took a risk in letting her do this, but apparently she wanted to do it, she thought she could do it, and her parents had taught her well and they believed she could do it and showed confidence and trust that she could do it (again, how amazing is that when it comes to most kids?)...and what's more, she verified and justified that faith.

The parents took a risk in letting her do it, but they did not send her out there intentionally recklessly, unsupplied or unsupported.

I do believe a planning mistake was made, apparently, in terms of weather patterns in the Indian Ocean, but I'm willing to call it just that -- a mistake. It could have been a costly one, sure.

But it wasn't, and it's not as if there have never been any mistakes or misjudgments made when it comes to predicting weather patterns, or when it comes to challenging Mother Nature, in general.

I'm sure that, in hindsight, Abby, the rest of her family and the travel team all would have second thoughts and more caution (and patience) about the timing.

But we all know that hindsight is 20/20, right? It's easy to criticize after the fact.

And, more than is the case with more typical kids, these are, indeed, the types of people likely to be finding cures for cancer, or doing other great things, and just generally living extraordinary lives.

 

Look at chilidog75's post . . . carefully.

That he needs to morph "special" into "so utterly fucking special" practically screams, "I am completely beside myself with resentment and scorn. "


And WriteThinking's post was pretty damn special. Borderline utterly fucking special.

 

Using multiple emoticons is utterly fucking stupid.

 

What? ??? This post makes absolutely no sense in the context of this thread.

Who considers Tiger Woods a super hero? Who has argued that screwing with all those women was OK?

And that does any of that have to do with the Sunderlands, anyway? Geez...

 

If I undrstand you correctly, you are argueing that the Sunderland's operate under a different set of rules than the masses. So Woods should be able to do whatever he wants.

This makes so much sense since the greatest people in American history came from the masses and not the blue bloods.

 

Nobody is saying any such thing. I said the Sunderlands think about certain things differently. Nowhere did I say they have or operate under a different set of rules. Where are you getting that from? And what the hell do you mean about the blue bloods? What??