I recently read an article about why adolescents are more apt to engage in risky behaviors. It’s not that they’re irrational and can’t assess the dangers, it’s that their brains are wired to reward them for taking chances. That certainly was true for me. I’m a very risk adverse person, but I remember being a bit more daring when I was in college, especially when I was in Europe with Stanford-in-Germany. We went on a field trip to Rome for a week and a friend of mine and I sneaked into the Forum at night and walked around, feeling very daring and brave. It was presumably illegal and there was a bit of anxiety that we might get caught, but it’s hard to believe we would have been in that much trouble if it had happened.
The trip to West Berlin was a different matter. It was before the Berlin Wall was built and East Germany was still under a repressive Communist government. But East and West Berlin were connected by a common metro system and it was easy to take the train into East Berlin. Shortly before we left Berlin to go back to West Germany, another friend decided he wanted to steal an East German flag as a souvenir. What?? I tried to talk him out of it but no luck. By some misguided feeling of loyalty I told him he wasn’t going alone. I would go with him. So one night we took the metro to East Berlin and wandered around for a while looking for an unguarded flag. Just before we had to go back to the station to catch the last train back we saw a flag on the top of a trestle. The area we were in was dark and seemed secluded. My friend was trying to figure out how to climb up to the flag when we saw the glow of a cigarette not too far away. We figured it was probably from a guard and got the heck out of there.
Stupid adventure? Of course, but it ended well and it still tickles my funny bone to think of it. 😀
What a difference a few years makes. Five years later Andy and I spent 13 months in the Paris area, traveling around Europe on weekends, holidays and vacations and coming back the long way to complete a trip around the world. At one point we weren’t sure if it would be safe to go to Morocco, so we went to the American Embassy in Paris to ask. The fellow said the main thing was if we saw a crowd gathering, just go in the opposite direction. No problem, we were conservative grownups by then. Plus the fact we both hated crowds.
What about you? Did you ever do anything crazy in your life? Were you a bit more reckless when you were a teen?
What do you think of these parents who were sailing around the world with their three children and got hijacked by Somali pirates? Do you think they were being reckless?
I guess I’ve always been pretty conservative when it comes to taking risks. When I went into the military during the Viet Nam conflict, I chose a branch and program that was least likely to come under fire, ending up in the nuclear power program and on a submarine, both of which many people would consider risky. The riskiest thing I’ve probably ever done was how quickly after meeting I asked Karen to marry me (2 weeks) and how soon after that we were married (5 weeks).
Mike,
It sounds as if both decisions were good ones. Most of the operators at the linear accelerator at the lab came from the nuclear navy. And your marriage has lasted.
Two or three of the operators from our unit went to Los Alamos 8 to 10 years ago, all ex-navy and NRC licensed.
I’m quite risk averse. I don’t think I’ve taken any risks at all really.
I take risks (small ones) all the time, that won’t get me into a lot of trouble if they don’t work out…just my pride will be damaged.
I took a risk the week before last and now I regret having gone away with a man that I know but had forgotten all his ‘little ways’ – my pride wasn’t hurt but I know in my hearts I won’t do that again!
In fact I shouldn’t have thought I couldn’t do it on my own but I was trying to give the guy a bit of holiday as he doesn’t do much on his own – afraid or something…ALL I can say on my holiday was that I WAS AWAY 🙂
I don’t want to talk about the risks that I took in my youth! Some of them have already become lores! And I am being modest!
Yes, I think that it is daft to go off on a cruise off the coast of Somalia.
This is for Evan with his ‘Living Authentically’.
(Not for this post but ran across this in a song I heard.)
‘There’s a Thin Line
Between being yourself
And being somebody else’
(lyrics by Indigo Girls)
Evan,
I find I don’t need to take physical risks to have a sense of adventure. Do you agree?
Cathy,
That’s sounds like a winning strategy. I’m sorry the trip wasn’t more fun. It sounds as if you could have used some.
rummuser,
I agree about the parents taking their kids into dangerous waters. Surely you could share a story or two?
bikehikebabe,
I’m eccentric enough that I don’t think those lines apply to me, meaning I don’t know of anyone who would want to be accused of being like me. 😉
Thanks BHB.
Hi Jean, yes I agree. I’ve been on many an intellectual adventure and discovered wonderful things in relationships. These are my adventures – I have found them, on the whole, satisfying and richly rewarding.
I realised I didn’t actually answer your question about the risky adventure some adults took with their children mangled up with pirates…
Not a great idea, especially is they knew in advance that they were going to be in stormy waters…
Okay. A blog post or two. Shall link to this post and that you twisted my arms into doing them.
Jean, how sweet to learn about your mischievious side.
Have I taken risks – yes, I have and still do. But not by way of stupid bets or a dare, thus deliberately putting myself into danger’s way. The challenging just happens on and off to me. My mother calls it my sense of adventure which – and she is not exactly a shrinking violet herself – leaves her baffled at times. However, and this is important, and that is where I am my father’s daughter, I only ever take calculated risks. And if life turns pearshaped, momentarily, I keep my nerve. Serves well. Can’t emphasize the last enough. Try and instill it in the youngsters roaming around me.
Never have I come to (physical) harm. Neither has anyone who sticks to me.
Putting yourself and your kids at risk in well documented area of piracy is beyond contempt.
U
Ursula,
Good luck with your latest adventure! Please keep us posted.