Well, not about the ear piercing. That was no joke. It hurt.
Yes, like everyone else, I am delighted that Jessica Watson is home safely. And I am genuinely in awe of her achievement. Back when she set out on her voyage, crashed on the first night and then set out again, I was a doubter. I still am a little bit. Now that she has returned a hero (as she should, her achievement is astonishing) it’s easy to say it was a wonderful thing for her to have done. But had something gone wrong? As it so easily could have? Her parents would have been lynched as outrageously irresponsible for allowing a 16 year old to attempt something so incredibly dangerous. People would have demanded there be new laws to stop teenagers attempting such dangerous records. Had she needed to have been rescued or searched for, there would have been grumbles about the ‘cost to taxpayers’.
Many people are captivated by the 16 year old courage or daring or spirit or whatever you want to call it. Me? I can’t help thinking ‘Shouldn’t she be at school?’
You might be old enough to remember another Jessica. Jessica Dubroff was 7 years old when she tried to be the youngest person to fly a plane across the United States in 1996. Almost 24 hours into her attempt, while taking off in a storm in order to keep her record hopes alive and accompanied by her father and a flying instructor, Jessica’s plane crashed and everyone on board was killed.
Partially as a result of that, The Guiness Book Of World Records no longer accepts record attempts based on age. People were just taking too many risks when they weren’t adequately prepared or experienced.
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I’m not saying that Jessica isn’t prepared. What would I know about sailing? And I’m not wishing her anything other than luck. But if she were my daughter, would I have let her do it? Not on your life.
It’s Nanna time: EVERY 16 year old thinks they can handle everything. I certainly did. It’s only as you get older that you realise you can’t. Even if you are the most mature 16 year old ever to be 16, there are a whole lot of things that only years of life experience can prepare you for.
I’ll never understand the desire some people have to test themselves physically against nature. Or why we feed that desire by turning them into heroes and legends. Can you?
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I still don’t understand all that. Let me be clear, I don’t want to have a go at Jessica. That’s not what this post is about because there are many many things worth celebrating about what she did. Not least that she is famous for something she DID rather than how she looks.
But let’s be honest, it could have gone either way. I maintain that I would never allow any 16 (or 17, or 27) year old child of mine to do something so dangerous. If that makes me a helicopter parent? Well chopper me into the sky. I’m OK with that.
There are many scientific studies that show a teenager’s brain is not fully developed. Particularly undeveloped is the area of the brain that relates to understanding consequences. That’s why teenagers take so many risks. Not particularly because they’re brave but because they can’t physiologically imagine what could go wrong. That certainly describes me as a 16 year old. You?
I was doing some pretty dumb things at 16. Things with boys, things with alcohol, things with sneaking out of my house to walk the streets at midnight alone to try and sneak back into a nightclub.
I guess what’s so different about Jessica is that the risks she took were for a higher purpose than to get smashed and see her boyfriend. Bravo for that. Seriously.
