You can decide that having children doesn't mean you have to sacrifice everything for them.
If you greatest joy in life is this, you may choose to take the risk. Children are not an all or nothing proposal.
If you greatest joy in life is this, you may choose to take the risk. Children are not an all or nothing proposal.
That said, parents don't always get a choice. Sometimes pregnancy is unplanned or even unwanted. I'm not sure how much moral responsibility parents bear in this case, but this scenario illustrates that the issue of responsibility isn't always black and white.
The extension to this is the significant likelihood of other accidents. Car accident, blood clot, stroke, embolism, drowning, falling off of a ladder, heart attack from a stressful event.
A significant number of parents die all of the time, with or without dangerous hobbies. Number your days.
Edit: Let me be very clear here: I am not advocating for any position or change of position on this matter in any way. I am simply stating an observation of how the world currently operates to clarify original poster's statement.
How about not having children, then? Or at least until/unless you have stopped diving?
> doesn't mean you have to sacrifice everything for them
There are a lot of small things you don't need to, but the big things you should. Your life, their father, is a big thing. If it means more to you to dive, do that instead.
I'm not sure I understand this mentality. Why force a life into this existence if you don't do everything in your power to make it as accommodating as you can? Modern life in it of itself will be working against it.
The person you are responding to is espousing an atittude that is far older and more widespread throughout the world.
You're reading about an accident, and then assuming the amount of risk involved without knowing anything about the sport. Accidents happen all the time, in all sorts of ways. It's very possible to do something like this and have a large safety margin, as has been shown by his 24yr history of doing it. Someone who is this experienced at what they do, in a dangerous seeming sport, will be very well aware of possible mistakes, and how to mitigate them. I personally think teaching your child to be "safe" and not take "risks" is kind of stupid. I'd much rather teach my child to learn how to push the limits intelligently, and see what in this world is possible.
Can you tell me what that means?
> people who do great things take big risks
Parents? With their lives? Can you describe such a scenario?
> This is a thread for startups
Is the risk involved in startups of the same impact to their children as their deaths?
> then assuming the amount of risk involved
Am I? Is this considered a safe pastime then?
> and have a large safety margin, as has been shown by his 24yr history of doing it
Now who's assuming? 24 years of not telling anyone he's going on a dive?
> I personally think teaching your child to be "safe" and not take "risks" is kind of stupid
You're playing semantics. mortal/life-threatening risk/safety is clearly different from other forms of usages of the same word(s).
You absolutely should teach your children to avoid those kinds of risks, or at least, in the context of having dependants.
I wasn't sure what you meant by "equal society," everyones different, the only way to get "equal" where all children have "equally" committed parents, would be quite homogenous.
The main point I think I'll reiterate, is that yes, you are assuming the amount of risk this person took. The amount of risk involved goes down the more you know about something. This person definitely knows more than you about the sport of cave diving, and can better judge the amount of risk involved. I think that's all I'm trying to say. You can do something that seems dangerous to outsiders, quite safely.
And I also think that lessons from one sport, or activity, apply to other areas of life.
This person knows more than I do about diving, but not necessarily about risk; A doctor who studies lung cancer might know more about the risks of smoking than a life-long smoker.