On 11 Oct 2000, at 11:43, David Strike wrote:

> On Wednesday, October 11, 2000 12:39 AM, Reef Fish wrote:
>
> (snip)
> > > whadjathink about attitudes to safety?

>
> > 1.  Try to stay away as much as possible from the MEANINGLESS LABELS
> >     and JARGONS and not use them because others do.  These are deadly
> >     enemies to YOUR safety and to any THINKING person.  Examples:  DIR,
> >     GUE, Hogarthian, Strokes, etc.  If  you have something of SUBSTANCE
> >     to say WITHIN those nebulous labels, just spit out what you have
> >     to say without relying on the crutch of those religious banners.
>
> Those who rely on labels generally have closed minds.  In an activity such
> as diving - one that's very much in its infancy - there's little room for
> dogmatic assertions.  Opinion based on experience is worth far more.  :-)

In the days of old, when divers did all of their conversing face to
face at dive sites there was not much room for labels or for
particularly closed minds. The internet has given a large amount of
anonyminity9sp) to the discussions that divers have which has
given rise to a lot of the closed mind syndrome and labelling...
Sad....


>
> Although it seems to be occurring less frequently - as far as mainstream
> training agencies are concerned - there's often been a tendency for people
> to face off against those taught by another agency and to claim that the
> level of training is inferior to the agency that taught them.  Rarely do
> they consider the role of the individual instructor.

Again, this became rampant with the early days of the internet. The
face to face meetings of old did not seem to give rise to much of
this stuff.


>
> > 2.  To be SELF-RELIANT.  DON'T ever rely on a buddy to be your safety
> >     sausage.
> (snip)
>
> Funnily enough, I'm just completing an article tentatively called, "The
> things we do for love!" about the inherent problems of diving with a loved
> one.  (Bits snipped to illustrate the point.)

OOh.... this should be a good one!  :-)

(snipped the good stuff...)

I have seen this stuff beginning to happen with couples in entry
level classes. I _always_ separate these teams during the biggest
majority of the course.


>
> There's a lot more (plus a disclaimer so that Sylvia doesn't whack me around
> the side of the head <BWG>), but it serves - hopefully - to illustrate the
> point that the perfect diving buddy is one who's every bit your equal in
> abilities and knowledge.

:-)  Like you need more lumps on your noggin', eh?


Mike


~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike
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