Don't you just LOVE skydiving??

[Guru312 0]

Am I breaking the rules by posting this in both The Bonfire and History and Trivia? I'm doing so because younger jumpers hang around the fire and the older jumpers hang onto their walkers. Maybe the moderators will allow this in both places to see what difference longevity and age makes in the responses. If the moderators want to delete it from one, please take it out of History and leave it in The Bonfire.

A few days ago I posted a thread in "History and Trivia" and a responder posted in the thread: "Don't you just LOVE skydiving?"

There is no question how much I love skydiving, that's for sure. [For quite some time, it was my business and my life!] But it's the people in the sport as much as it is the act of jumping. There seems to be something about the personality and personal make-up of jumpers; their outlook on life in general; their respect for one another that draws us to a drop zone.

Last night I spent about 6 hours driving with an old jumper friend--he's old and I've known him for 30 plus years--and we spent most of our trip talking about people we knew over the years. It got me to thinking how ALL of my close friends are jumpers. I've been best man in a few weddings--all jumpers. I've been to a few funerals--all jumpers. The people I have do work for me--mostly jumpers. I'm pretty much a recluse...unless there are jumpers around!

I personally have a VERY difficult time relating to non-jumpers. In general, I can't stand groups of people, unless they are jumpers. Over the years, nothing thrilled me more than going to Herd Boogies and various competitions...just to hang with 'my kind'. I've operated DZs and travelled a bit and noticed that at all DZs the openess and trust we have for each other seems to be quite different than the rest of the society and it transcends all walks of life, education, gender, race and national origin.

At Herd Boogies, hundreds of people would leave vans and cars un-locked and un-occupied for days with personal gear, clothing, money and other 'un-mentionable' items available for the taking. And nobody ever took anything. I know there are occasional thefts at DZs but compared to 'normal' society, considering how open things are on a drop zone, it's pretty amazing.

So...my reason for this post: tell us about *your* thoughts.

Do you find non-jumpers a bit difficult to deal with because they aren't as open and honest and straight forward as jumpers?

Have you pulled away from non-jumpers as friends? Do you have trouble relating to non-jumpers now?

What do you think makes us have more respect for each other than than society in general?

You'll note, I've been jumping for a long time. If you are new to the sport, give us your impression of the people you've met.

If you've been around for ages, what are your thoughts on your friends and associates? Am I wrong in thinking that we are different?

Tell us!

Guru312

I am not DB Cooper

[NWFlyer 2]

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Do you find non-jumpers a bit difficult to deal with because they aren't as open and honest and straight forward as jumpers?

I don't find non-jumpers on the whole any more or less difficult to deal with than jumpers. People are people, regardless of how "special" we may think we are as skydivers.

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Have you pulled away from non-jumpers as friends? Do you have trouble relating to non-jumpers now?

Nope, once I figured out that they don't want to hear about jumping all the time, I remembered that we still had plenty in common - all the things we had in common before I started jumping. If they ask, I'll talk about it, but most of the time, we continue doing the things we liked to do before I started jumping. And I find that the longer I stay in the sport (only 2 1/2 years for me so far) the more I appreciate the balance my non-jumping friends bring to my life. I can see it being far too easy to get caught up in the drama of the very insular skydiving world if I didn't have people on the outside to give me perspective.

But I've found that every time in my life I've been a member of a small, tight community. When I was in business school (about 700 students, most of whom never spent much time with anyone outside of the school), I was grateful for a good friend who was a med student because I could hang out with her and not have to worry about all the ins and outs and drama and politics, I could just have fun.

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What do you think makes us have more respect for each other than than society in general?

I don't think we necessarily have more or less respect for each other than society in general. I think it is somewhat easier to build trust because everyone knows someone who knows someone that you know... the "degrees of separation" are smaller if I walk up to someone at a DZ than if I walk up to someone at a mall. Chances are I can track you down if you breach my trust.

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If you are new to the sport, give us your impression of the people you've met.

I've met people I love to hang around with and people I don't like to hang around with as much. Just like in "the real world."

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke