That is to say up until that point we had no qualms or reticence about throwing ourselves off walls, out of windows, into water from some height or onto other soft landing zones.
In my youth I was by no means fearless or reckless but thought nothing of leaping off a bridge parapet into a river, abseiling down a steep rock face or taking a turn on a rope and pulley death slide from high up in a tree down into a field below.
There were of course factors at play.
If in a group there is certainly the pressure imposed by peers. If a mixed group then there is the need to impress the opposite sex by acting out of bravado and machismo whilst giving the impression that you do this type of thing just about every day and twice on a Sunday.
I cannot pinpoint the exact date or event in which my previous glorious celebration of gravity was overidden by a sense of fear and responsibility and I could not go through with something which had previously not been a problem.
It may have simply been the case that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak as they say.
I was therefore fascinated by a short documentary from Sweden by two film makers, Van Aertryck and Danielson in which they sought to portray the inherent doubt and fear of humans when confronted by a particular challenge.
In this instance some 67 people answered an online advertisement asking for participants to jump from an indoor 10 metre (33 imperial feet) diving tower into a municipal swimming pool.
The only criteria was that they had not done it before.
In return for a small fee all that was required was for them to climb up to the platform and take a walk to the edge before making a decision on whether to jump off or climb back down. It was a flat rate reward with no incentives or co-ercement to take that leap off into the air at what is some reasonable height above the water.
There was no element of covert filming:six cameras were trained on the platform and microphones were in full and plain sight. Those taking part waited in line on the poolside until it was their turn. The presence of a film crew and the interaction amongst those preparing to climb up for the challenge did seem to introduce an element of peer pressure. It may have been the case that being paid imposed somewhat of an obligation to jump. I myself in the same situation would feel a bit guilty about taking someones money and then, in effect, just running away.
In this interesting psychological exercise some 70% of the participants did go through with it and plunge feet first into the clear blue, chlorinated water of the pool.
The film footage does show the full range of human emotions from pure fear to personal angst , casual interest, determination and deep doubt, regret and self loathing. Physical traits were interesting with hand flapping around the face, a sharp exhaling of breath, not a little frustrated stomping and a bit of stretching in readiness although it appeared that those who on first impression looked up for it and went through the motions were not able to go through with it.
Language picked up by the microphones varied from "uh-oh", "all-righty lets do this" and the expected "it's actually higher than it looks" to outright swearing either in self encouragement or to signify abandonment of the task.
One senior lady was actually on her way back down the steps when she turned back and jumped. That age group of women was shown to be the most daring .
The interaction between pairs on the diving platform introduced the dare element of "you go first and then I will follow" although I do not have much hope for one young couple where the boyfriend was relentlessly bullied into making the jump by his partner. The younger women were inspiring in their attitude of "Just make a decision and stick to it" which put some of their male counterparts to shame.
A trend that I did notice was that there were not many men of my age group present. For all of the psychological aspects of the documentary film I am reassured that I am not the only lily-livered, weak kneed, middle aged cowardly waster on the planet.
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| Not me ! |
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