You tell me.

[oldbastard 0]

In the old days skydivers existed as an entirely separate class of people. They were people who didn’t belong to society or its beliefs. They were a person who would rather give up the house, car, and 2.3 kids to live a life that seemed reckless to most. They existed on a single notion that whatever awaited them after life was brought a little bit closer in the sky.

That’s not to say that that doesn’t exist today. You can still find those people – they’re the ones with the rusted out camper at the end of the dz. They’re the ones with names like Carbone or Bird – they’re the ones that eat high off the hog when it’s blue skies and scrounge when it’s gray. They’re the ones who search for the meaning of it all.

When I visit the dropzone today, I see a lot of young well dressed kids pulling up in nice cars and pulling out brand new rigs. I see students huddled together telling their friends on the other end of their cellphones that they’re now only minutes from jumping out of a plane. I see them when they’ve returned from their ride and are watching themselves on the monitor as they throw out signs and gestures to their videographer.

So what I wonder, is how did this sport change so much? Was it all the television ads or all the Xtreme sport shows that featured skysurfers alongside skateboarders and BMXers or has the passion that once pushed someone to test their limits grown scarce?

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to put anyone down. Anyone who returns for that second jump is okay in my book. I just wonder if what brought them to the dz was the result of a search to find their inner selves or just something they’ve always wanted to try.

Of course there are a few I see that make me think that passion is still there. Occasionally, I see a middle-aged man standing over some older looking gear neatly making each fold and carefully measuring each stow. He might ask around to see if he can find someone who wants to make a jump but usually he’ll manifest himself and wait quietly for the plane. Then there are that small percentage of freefliers who you know by name because their also dz residents. But, if you ask me, the most passionate are often not even on the dropzone.

If I had to pick the most passionate – I’d have to say it’s the base jumpers. They test the limits more than any of us. Hell they often begin their journey where we bail. Us skydivers reach two thousand feet and we’re either under canopy or pull’n. Whereas basejumpers begin there jump from well below. Yeah, I’d have to say basejumpers are some of the truest skydivers out there – pushing even closer to that great beyond. The hard-core ones, not the ones who buy their little ticket at bridgeday and stand in line at the fair to make a jump… but the ones who are out there when the rest of us are sleeping. The ones who climb through that misty fog and catch that first hint of the approaching sunrise – the ones who put it all on the line to capture that feeling… that feeling of truly being alive. That feeling that comes only when you realize how insignificant your life is and how funny those ants scurrying down that highway with their cellphones really are.

Live like there’s no tomorrow! Now where’s the beer!!!