Does one's life belong to oneself?

Where do you draw the line indeed? Effectively I hadn’t added Childbirth, driving down the road, and dying one’s hair to extremely dangerous leisure activies, hobbies or sports :thinking:

“Does one’s life belong to oneself ?” is a completely different question from “Does my life belong to me ?”

If someone asked me that question, my response would always be “Are you perhaps asking this question in reference to yourself, and your own life?”.

This is because I am a retired mental health nurse, and I would want to understand better why the question was posed, because it might suggest suicidal intent on the part of the questioner. Even if my own question were answered by a denial, I would have a personal interest as well as a professional one in what prompted the question.

The next question suggests more explicitly that it arises from a personal interest, and thus invites a similar exploratory question IMO, perhaps putting the question back, as in “Well, what’s your own opinion?”, or maybe “Does this question have particular significance for you at this time?”. The answer would be of interest and help in framing and steering any further disussion.

Aside from these considerations, I think that the questions can only be fruitfully discussed in the context of a" real life", and the fullest consideration of the whole context in which the question arises and the consequences that might flow from the response .

This is because arriving at an answer is only ever going to be derived from an established ideology e.g. that life is sacred, or a God-given gift, or that the individual will supercedes all other considerations or arguments that might be raised to contradict personal freedom.

So the consequences of an answer to either question needs to weighed as carefully and thoroughly as the reason the question(s) was/were asked in the first place.

As to accidents. IMO an accident should be thought of as an unexpected, disruptive and possibly injurious event The suggestion that some human agency caused it is premature and invidious (emotionally charged and liable to distort perceptions as to cause i.e.prejudicial to the establishment of essential fact).

The idea of blame hinges on the case for retribution and/or compensation, and should not enter into examination of the incident until facts appear to justify it.

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Hi Jane and thanks for your reply. The comment about people paying for any consequences of choosing to do ‘extremely’ dangerous sports ( examples of extreme sports doesn’t exclude the existance of the RNLI, Coastguard or Mountain Rescue. I was simply suggesting that people who do engage in very highly risky extreme sports should pay those entities, (whether RNLI, hospitals or any other care provider) for their help and if they don’t have the money to do that then maybe they should think twice about their choices of activity…

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Or take out insurance. But deciding which activities qualify is likely to be controversial.

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The average person’s highest chance of being injured or killed on a day-to-day basis

Indeed, and please correct me if I’m out of line, but having read through many CV’s I’ve never seen ‘driving down the road’ or smoking for that matter cited under the section of sports, hobbies or leisure activities. IMO, driving, childbirth, smoking, or eating lots for pleasure come under life choices as opposed to sports. I was making reference to people who do extreme sports as mentioned either in the Encyclopedia Britannica’s selection of extreme sports

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Oh good my hobbies of motorcycling, singlehanded offshore sailing and mountain walking don’t count as nasty extreme sports like skateboarding and roller skating. I can sleep more easily now.

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And that doesn’t take into account the long term risks from breathing the exhaust fumes from the car in front!

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Hi Matthew, btw, I never used the word ‘nasty’ and IMO, everyone is entitled to practise whatever sport they wish as long as it doesn’t put another person’s life in danger and they’ve the means to support themselves in case of an accident (or they have a very good insurance willing to fully cover them).

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oh don’t get me on that subject :rage:!!! The amount of times I’ve had to pull over due to choking on thick black smoke billowing out of vehicle exhaust pipes is sadly uncountable… :nauseated_face:

And i thought that was getting out of bed on a morning. :smiley:

Diesel drivers probably.

I’m starting to think this thread might be an insurance pitch. Any thoughts about that @Louise_Phillips? No malice intended, just an innocent question! 🙋 :question::innocent:

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:sweat_smile:… OMG, you’ve seen my ruse! :rofl: :joy:

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:grin:

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@Louise_Phillips OMG :scream::face_with_head_bandage::skull_and_crossbones::stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Well, you’ve succeeded in flushing out a few likely clients who may well admire your creative talents, Louise. Better than a dreary leaflet!
Bon courage! :smiley::ok_hand:

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But where do you draw the line between a life choice, a hobby, a leisure activity and an extreme sport? Who do you decide is worthy and who isn’t?
Riding isn’t considered an extreme sport but I bet there are more injuries due to riding than there are due to parapente, for example.
Hospital birth vs home birth?
People get hairbleach/dye allergies go blind etc, should we just point and laugh and say it is the wages of vanity? Self inflicted and the risks are mentioned on the box…
And what other factors do you take into consideration?
What if an avid extreme sports person trips over the pavement and fractures her skull, should the treatment be covered?
People who get into trouble because they don’t understand instructions in eg French and injure themselves…
It is a slippery slope.

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Absolutely, at least the parachutist has a reserve chute, the horse rider doesnt.

I would class this as a life choice, excruciating but nevertheless a choice.

Hi Veronique, and an interesting question. For me, an extreme sport as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica (and not so many people do really extreme sports) is completely difference to a life choice such as giving birth. For reference here, I’d still come back to what you’d write on your CV. If you were applying for a job would you write ‘childbirth’ under sports and hobbies ? :wink:
Riding can indeed be considered a sport or leisure activity, and many people do riding and many people have accidents. I don’t consider it an ‘extreme’ sport however, as it’s been pracised for centuries and used to be the main means of transport for many societies (perhaps a little like sailing and even basic skiiing ?) For me these ‘sports’ that originated from people’s need to ‘travel’ from A-B and aren’t exreme. For me ’ Extreme’ is defined by EB and are relatively new with a high possibility of being killed if something goes wrong.