Certain Amount Of Risk example essay topic

Chance McGuire stood at the top of a six hundred and fifty foot concrete dam, looking down, hoping that his parachute will open facing away from the dam, and that the wind will not slam him into the hard concrete. He takes a big breath and jumps. He soars down the face of the dam only feet away from the deadly concrete. His parachute opens and he glides away from the dam to a safe area next to the river. But what if his parachute did not open? People all over the world take risks; some love the adrenaline rush, some are born with a predisposition for risk-taking, some anxiously want what they don't have, and some want change in their lives.

Due to changes in the world and people's lives, risk-taking has increased in the past decade. Many young people, mostly between the ages of fifteen and thirty five, are taking risks these days. Though oblivious to the consequences of their actions, they are accomplishing dangerous and often deadly feats. Base jumping, which is basically jumping off a cliff or bridge with a parachute, has become a sport with one of the world's highest fatality rates.

In its eighteen year history, forty six participants have died, yet it remains very popular. Other types of risk-taking include skydiving, which, in 1992, had a fatality rate of two for every one hundred thousand jumpers; and mountain climbing which has a death rate of forty seven to every one hundred thousand climbers. There are also non-life-threatening risks that can be financially hazardous. More than thirty percent of U.S. households own stocks of one kind or another. People all over the world are quitting their jobs more than ever to start their own internet businesses or to start a business of their own. So why do people do this?

There are a couple reasons. One is the adrenaline rush. Some people will do whatever it takes to get their blood pumping. Overcoming a fear makes them feel free and they will keep going back for more; except the next time it has to be bigger and better. Eric Perlman n, a mountain climber and filmmaker, talking of extreme sports, says, "Every human being with two legs, two arms, is going to wonder how fast, how strong, how enduring he or she is.

We are designed to experiment or die". Israeli scientists, who were trying to find out whether or not this behavior could be inherited, studied the DNA of risk-takers and found that they had a longer version of a gene, called D 4 DR, than people with out the need to take risks. This does not show the reason some people feel the need to take big risks; it just shows that some of us may have the predisposition to take risks. Another way to determine whether a person will take risks is to look at the history of their lives. A person that has grown up in a risk taking environment is more likely to take risks when they grow up. The perception of risk also has a role in a person's life.

For one person, driving seventy mph is risky, while I drive at that speed normally; so I would need to drive at eighty mph to feel like I am taking a risk. If a person perceives risk as a normal part of life, they are more likely to take bigger risks and more often. Risk does not always have to be life threatening to be related to danger. It can also be any type chance that somebody takes which requires change. Some risks in life are important to personal growth. Risk helps us discover new things by allowing us to move past our boundaries.

Someone that is scared of snakes, for example, might pick one up. If it doesn't bite then that person may lose their fear of snakes. We also need risk to better ourselves; to quit that job that we hate and then get a better one that we may not be as comfortable with. Some people will never find their passion because they are afraid to try new things.

A paraglider pilot, Wade Ellet, fifty one years old, declares, "If you don't assume a certain amount of risk, you " re missing a certain amount of life". The prosperity of the past decade could be pushing people to take risks, to push themselves further. Forty eight thousand Americans were admitted to a hospital emergency room with skateboarding related injuries in 1997, which is thirty three percent higher than the year before. This shows the increase in the popularity of these extreme sports. Since this past decade has shown no major depression, no prolonged conflict, and cures for most of the major diseases, people have become restless. In the past, risk has been a way of life, and people never chose to seek it out because it came to them.

The Vietnam War, The Cold War, and The World Wars brought risky situations to people and they didn't need to look for it. Since then, things have died down and extreme sports became popular. Since the war in Iraq, people have used the sports as an escape. They put themselves in their own risky situations. Risk, although often times extremely dangerous, is healthy to a certain point and can allow people to better themselves and to see things from a different perspective. Risk is what makes our lives a little more exciting.

The person we are today is shaped by the amount of risk we take in our lives. Lacking it, we would always play things safe and never realize our potential. We would never change in the direction that we want to. We may never discover a passion we have for something. Why would you risk your life jumping out of a perfectly good airplane? For the way it makes you feel.

The feeling of falling, looking death in the face and making fun of him, that in return, creates a feeling of safety when your parachute opens. To see the world so small and to be at peace with the world while your adrenaline soaked blood pumps through your body at one hundred mph. That is what makes the risk worth the rush.