How Young? Revisited

I had a different post in mind for today, primarily about Vibrams - but a couple of news events have been bouncing around in my head far too prominently lately, especially in light of an article I recently wrote about the question of how young is too young for extreme athletic endeavors. So today’s offering is the cognitive equivalent of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, and I’ll come back to revisit my original idea tomorrow.

Jordan Romero

As you’ve undoubtedly heard, 13-year-old Jordan Romero made it to the summit of Everest. He’s now a media darling, making the standard rounds on all the major networks, including a seat on Jay Leno’s couch last week. He’s also got a book in the works called The Boy Who Conquered Everest. And truthfully, I couldn’t be happier for the kid. He was highly motivated, worked his butt off, and used a great support system in order to – borrowing Hillary’s famous expression here - knock the bastard off.

However, the side of this whole “youngest ever” frenzy that makes me a little bit squeamish is exemplified in the story of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland and her nearly-disastrous attempted solo circumnavigation of the globe. She got trapped in a storm, and was briefly feared to be lost at sea prior to her rescue by French and Australian crews some 2000 miles off the coast of Australia.

Abby Sunderland
The unsettling aspect isn’t that Abby might not have been qualified to make such an attempt – because by nearly all accounts, she was. It wasn’t even that the plan failed; after all, storms can take out even the most qualified veteran sailors (and as I’ve recently discovered firsthand, sometimes there’s no shame in a DNF). I’m even inclined, just a tiny bit, to cut her family some slack for expressing no willingness to pay for the costs of the rescue, even though it seems like an ideal Balloon Boy-style reprimand on many levels.

What bothers me most is this: prior to the journey, her parents had signed a contract for a film documentary (second item) of the voyage, as well as an agreement to have the whole family’s adventures made into a reality TV show (first item). [*Updated: both of the above links to Magnetic Entertainment, the company in question, have been disabled since this post was published.] And while there’s nothing inherently wrong about soliciting yourselves to various producers in hopes of making a little side income, there’s no question that this wrinkle moves Abby’s endeavor slightly further away from “young kid has a dream and works hard to make it happen” and slightly closer to “family willing to place kids at great risk in exchange for fame and/or fortune,” which for obvious reasons is far more troubling.

I have no idea exactly where on that spectrum this particular family lies – just as I’m uncertain whether the fact that Abby’s brother was a previous “world’s youngest” record holder is a point in her favor or not. But the thought that - no matter what happens to the Sunderlands - there’s undoubtedly another family out there willing to push the line a little further towards the risk side, and another family after them to push it even further, and so on, gives me a bit of a chill wondering if a tragic outcome isn’t hopelessly inevitable someday.

For today, I'm thankful neither of those stories featured Jordan or Abby.


P.S. If you're interested in Abby's perspective, check out her blog here.

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