Harris Worthman, Chapter 7, Question 6

A couple years ago I told my mom that I wanted to go base jumping when I grow up to see what she would say. I just really suck as a person but that's besides the point. She looked at me, smiled, and said "well have fun paying for your insurance." I hadn't even considered that. Insurance costs more for those who partake in "risky" behavior. I was joking at the time, but I have since found the idea interesting and maybe someday I might take that leap of faith. After doing my research on the subject there is a common theme; that it's one experience you will never forget and the high you get from the adrenaline stays with you for a good week. That is as long as you live to see another day. Many base jumpers don't have a family to worry about and don't pay for insurance because of how incredibly high the cost is. The reason I brought this subject up is because chapter 7 talks about insurance and I noticed that this is an extreme case of a quick reward with a long term disadvantage. Which, in a way, resembles these passages from the chapter "...a new diet swept through one of the sororities...one could lose weight by eating large amounts of grapefruit and ice cream...I was fascinated that a very smart group of women had tossed aside common sense to embrace a diet that could not possibly work." I mean who doesn't want to lose weight by eating ice cream? The same goes for base jumping. Well... in a different way. Why would someone voluntarily put themselves in a certain death situation only to (hopefully) save themselves from it? Simple. They do it for the instant adrenaline rush they get from not only escaping death, but doing it with style. Changing the outcome from a worst nightmare to a greatest dream. This instant reward does not come without cost as I have already stated. As a matter of fact it costs A LOT. That's why so many jumpers don't buy life insurance. Insurance companies look at everything a person does to determine the price of the life insurance for that person. The "riskier" the behavior the person has, the higher the chance of death, death results in the company writing a check they don't want to and so insurance companies are well aware that base jumper's lives are hanging by threads... literally.