Too comfortable?

A famed free diver dies while doing what, for her, is relatively easy.  A well-known Yosemite rock climber and wing-suit flyer also dies doing what he does.  A Woman becomes the first female ever to swim from the Farallones to San Francisco, only a few weeks after a swimmer attempting the reverse course, had to cancel the journey due to a great white following him.

Meanwhile Tom Cruise leaps off tall buildings, The Avengers subdue evil with the most daredevil-ly actions and fantastical hobbits and dwarves battle overwhelming forces with just swords and axes.

And here is the narrative for both situations:

“I’m sorry they died or didn’t achieve their ultimate goals, but it was their fault because daredevils are stupid adrenaline junkies.”  Look at the comments section of every online newspaper which chronicled their death or failure. It's as if these daredevils personally attacked the readers. Simultaneously: “I love action movies!  I can’t wait to see the next one!  Gosh, they are so exciting!!”

I’ll stop right here.  The true life daredevils died and left behind families and friends, whereas Mr. Cruise still draws a Hollywood paycheck and no actual Hobbits, Orks or Transformers were harmed during filming. I get that.  I understand that.

But, what does it say about us as a culture that we rail against individuals who get seriously hurt or even pay the ultimate price in pursuit of their dreams, while we breathlessly spend our money and fill up our discretionary time with action packed, synthetic drama?

It’s almost as if we are angry at the rock climbers, bungee jumpers and extreme athletes for interrupting the bargain of modern life: Watch much, but do little. Or maybe we are angry because they actually got off the sofa and sought their own real-life adrenaline.

Sure, many skeptics exclaim with the best of intentions that the daredevils acted selfishly because they engaged in tremendous risks despite having families and children who needed them.

But what about the millions of dads who live safe and ordinary lives yet still carry about 50-100 extra pounds of fat on their bodies and pools of cholesterol in their veins?  Or the millions of moms who text while driving – perhaps after consuming four to five cocktails?

Aren’t they acting selfishly and irresponsibly? 

Yet the public doesn’t seem to unleash righteous anger via Twitter and Facebook because a 54-year-old father of three died of a heart attack, or a hard-charging career women wrapped her Mercedes around a light pole still clutching her smartphone.

Perhaps – just perhaps – jealousy rears its predictable and ugly head in the case of daredevils who risked and lost. Perhaps our anger at the ill-fated daredevils is misplaced longing for thrills and risks we’ve steadily diminished in our modern world.