Safety or Life?

Many people have weighed in with their reactions to 16 year old Abby Sunderland's attempt to sail solo around the world. (She had to abandon her quest after three days adrift and disconnected after a storm in the Indian Ocean.) Apparently most of the reaction is negative against Abby's parents. How could they let a 16 year old do such a thing? That's way too young! Her parents should have been more responsible; a 16 year old doesn't have the maturity and capability to take on something so daunting. It amounts to child endangerment! (I could say something here about parents who dress their elementary aged daughters up like high class hookers and throw them in "Miss Whatever" pageants and suggest that this is also child endangerment, but I won't go there right now.)

I'm all for safety and parental responsibility. I don't think I could have let my 16 year old child sail around the world. Yet I'm getting just old enough that I wonder if we aren't sometimes a little too over-sanitized and over-protected. When I was a kid (that phrase was a sure sign of an old codger) we'd bound out after a summer's breakfast, hop on our bikes, and head out who knows where for the day. We were sure to come back home for supper with skinned knees and a few bruises, but those are the days we now sit around and talk about with other old duffers. Today, the kid doesn't get on his or her bike without a thorough going over with sunscreen, a pocket container of hand sanitizer, a helmet, a cell phone, a GPS guide to acceptable routes, and a police escort.

Okay, okay...I exaggerate. Yes, I know - we live in a different world now. Believe me, I am grateful for all the safety developments that have blessed and benefited my children and grandchildren. Here's the thing, though...is the real, ultimate object of life to be safe, or to live? Life itself has risk. Risk is as integral to life as breathing, eating, working, playing, and loving. In some ways, risks and all, I think Abby Sunderland has decided to live. She wants to tackle an around the world attempt again. At some level, I admire her.

My faith system and community rallies around someone named Jesus. He took lots of risks. In fact, he took the ultimate risk - willingly facing death with the faith that something was on the other side. Those who followed him initially did so at great risk to themselves. Yet somehow living for and with him far outweighed the risks, or at least re-prioritized them. Reportedly Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance." I haven't found any place where he said, "I have come to keep them safe from any risks."

So, do you think life is about staying safe or about living it fully? Or have I oversimplified this? Do you think Abby should sail again? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.