Flying, Worriers and Orcas

The Blue Angels are in town.  They have been buzzing the city most of the morning, getting ready for their performance over the Harbor on Saturday and Sunday.  I have to admit that I find their aerobatics strapped inside a big ass thundering jet pretty amazing.  Would I want to do that? No way.  Would I want to go for a ride upside down, through barrel rolls, and loop-de-loops?  No way. 

I think that these men (aren't the Blue Angels all men?) must have some extra adrenalin that they need to drain off.  I guess that I'm an "earthbound misfit"  because I don't want to fly planes, jump out of planes, or jump off cliffs with a bungee cord strapped to my body. 


I have a friend who likes to do aerobatic flying.  He asks me to go on occasion saying "Don't you want to live?".  To which I have to say with a vigorous shake of my head,  "Yes indeed I do want to live which is precisely why I don't want to fly upside down, and have heart-stopping G forces clear the plaque from my arteries."  I may actually still be living because I haven't put myself into an array of situations in which I might actually die. Well, except for the deep submersible dives, the jumping of fences with my horse, and driving my car in this town. 

Sadly, I remember that a few of the Blue Angels crashed a number of years ago.  That just about ruined my day. I mean, here they are soaring like...well, angels and then "Kaboom".  End of story. The big finale.  Today as they roared over the building where I work,  I was hoping that the God of my understanding was right there with them because I certainly had a feeling of powerlessness as they roared past. 

I do like a sense of adventure with the emphasis on "sense".  I am not a particularly uber-cautious person.  I'm not overly nervous.  I can't think of too many mainstream things that bother me.  I do know a few people who admit to being afraid of just about everything.  One friend, who is a good guy,  is a real nervous type who bought a home in upstate New York in order to avoid hurricane season.  He still has his house along the coast but suffers from some kind of traumatic stress when the forecasters start talking in February about there being a more active hurricane season this year.  He is hightailing it out of Dodge like a bunny with its tail on fire.

The problem with people who worry about every little thing is that they have to only hear of one rare incident to justify their worrying.  Regardless that there may be a 1 in 5 million occurrence, they know this could actually happen to them. Like the Orca event at Sea World, some people will ask me if I worry about going out on the water and being pulled overboard by a killer whale.  Really...I'm serious here.  I can tell them that Orcas don't live here and not one has been sighted anywhere near where I live.  I can provide them with maps of distribution and various graphs containing statistical data, but it won't make a difference.  I also explain that I don't have a ponytail (anymore). The moment they find one measly article in the newspaper about an Orca attack, they cut it out and send it to C. to read.  It's as if they want to warn her for hanging out with such a reckless person who decides to sleep out on the water because they know that we'll be the next "statistic" to be reported as being consumed by a killer whale.

I'm just glad that my Higher Power goes along for the ride just as He is riding with the Blue Angels today.