It’s in the news today. A 20 year old young man made his first solo parachute jump. Imagine the thrill of it: Several thousand feet up in the sky, he opens the plane door, the wind whips at his face. His eyes are shining, he’s exhilarated but he’s afraid. Of course he is. It’s like riding a two-wheel bike for the first time and realise your dad’s not holding on to the bench anymore; you crash and burn. That’s pretty much what happened to our young man: he dove and hit 250 000 volts of electrical wire. The miracle in this? He’s still alive…for now.

Which brings me to my subject. Fear and rationalism. I think my rationalism (or am I being irrational ?) is what’s causing my fear of heights, mainly. More likely my fear of extreme experiences. But who in their right minds would think parachuting to be a good idea? I can’t help but think that there’s no rational reason to go up several thousand feet in the air and then decide to jump off. Why would we want to do that? For the thrill? Go swim with a dozen piranhas, at least then you’ll KNOW what the income of this thrill be.

And bungee jumping. WHAT IF? You want to play this game with me? What if the rope snaps and you spring to your death? What if the length of rope measured is off and I have a head on with the concrete floor? Water you say? Bungee jump over water? Ok! What happens to you if you hit water at the speed you will be going? You’ll belly flop all right but I’m pretty sure your organs will turn to mush or something close to that effect.

What’s logical or rational about barrelling down Niagara Falls? What not do it with a canoe or something? Why go down and blind? What’s the thrill behind this experience? Finding out how many times you can cheat death? Cats are proclaimed to have nine lives and I’m pretty sure they’d never try any of these wacky experiences. Why would they? Why would we?

So tell me, am I being rational or irrational?