Thank you Erik, I understand your points & appreciate your insights. I didn't apreciate peskydor's attitude that has permeated some of his posts & shows up in poor form here. I know he was addressing donmoore's comments, but to bring up Oprah - now that's just insulting
"I agree we have to move on, but to do so without taking this lesson learned & how it affects all of us would be a great disservice & disrespectful of this amazing man's life." I agree we shouldn't make drastic changes - for example someone on the hawaiiskindiver boards said he'll never go diving again. That would be last thing Gene would want. What I meant by my above statement is that each of us should take a little reflection from this & apply it to our own life, not go crazy trying to implement changes
My own 2 personal thoughts coming from conversations with friends & internal reflection:
- 1) The competition is always 2nd. Many people push it too hard & think about getting that extra fish, not letting down teammates, saving face, etc. All this can severely alter one's mental state to the point of throwing caution to the wind.
- 2) Even though blackouts come without warning, everyone has had times when they know they've pushed it too far. While coming up, I always hear stories of people saying they thought they weren't going to make it. In almost none of these stories did they think to release their weight belt - a simple act that would have huge benefits.
I still plan to dive the same as always. Gene will still be one of my dive heros. We will all move on - and learn from this.
