Explorers expand human horizons

When looking back at man's jaw-dropping physical feats of the past 80 years, one notices that they seem to occur in twos within a short period of time.\nIn 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, and while she was at it, she did it faster than anybody -- man or woman -- had ever done it. Nine months later, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic.\nSir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay, Hilary's friend and Sherpa, became the first to scale Mount Everest in 1953. Less than a year later, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, smashing a barrier more psychological than physical.\nLate in 2001, pneumatic pop superstar Britney Spears successfully scaled a flight of stairs without tipping over. As a result, one can come to expect something big to happen just around the corner.\nOne thing that might happen could be Steve Fossett becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon. People such as Fossett don't stir people's passions, so you may not be aware of him. Adventures like the one Fossett is embarking on cost a lot of money, and Fossett is really wealthy. In addition, the recession our country currently faces means that people are not exactly relating to an adventurer seemingly frivolously frittering away cash.\nFossett's biggest problem is that this is his sixth attempt at an around-the-world balloon trip, and after five failures, nobody is exactly putting their money on him to succeed. After a while, his critics say, it seems like just a publicity stunt.\nSo be it. His critics are wrong.\nAdventurers like Fossett may well have a huge ego and a few screws loose to try something so dangerous. However, he should be the type of person we encourage because if he succeeds, he will not only be doing it for himself but for all of us as well.\nThe first question that comes up when someone like Fossett tries something like this is "Why?" If Fossett would allow me to answer for him, I would say, "Why not?" We need people to do the supposedly unthinkable to not only prove that it can be done but to prove to ourselves that maybe we could do it.\nFor example, Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer who died earlier this year, built his famous raft the Kon-Tiki for his 4,300-mile trip from Peru to Polynesia in order to prove how Polynesia had originally been inhabited. In the process, Heyerdahl made the world come alive, and his writings from that time have been translated into 64 languages.\nIn recent years, the importance of a can-do mindset has established itself in sports as sports fans have become more quick to criticize.\nFirst, sports lack role models. Is being a role model necessarily a measure of that athlete's character, how he or she treats the media or how many autographs he or she signs before and after the game? Well, yes, but perhaps we aim too low.\nSecond, many believe athletes aren't worth what they are paid, relative to others who make a more significant societal contribution. To put it another way, will the doctor who cures cancer for good or the top-notch professor who not only taught you a lot, but changed the way you think, get a 10-year, $252 million contract such as the one that Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez received in December 2000? Of course not.\nThen again, it is harder to comprehend what the brilliant professor or doctor does as compared to the athlete. What part of Shaquille O'Neal's game gets criticized the most? O'Neal's foul shooting problems are legendary, and people get on him for that because they think, "Heck, I can shoot free throws better than that." Tom Amberry, a retired 79-year-old podiatrist from Seal Beach, Calif., made 2,750 in a row shooting in a gym, and he has since been hired by several NBA teams to work as a free throw consultant. The same goes for a grounder that goes through an infielder's legs or a missed two-foot putt.\nThat's why people such as Steve Fossett, who by the way just broke the trans-Mediterranean sailing record three weeks ago, are to be admired. What he is doing is terribly difficult, and it raises our standards for what we might consider a role model.\nSadly, the May 30 tragedy at Mount Hood just outside Portland, Ore., that killed three climbers who fell into a crevasse might serve as a reason not to seek one's own adventures. One would hope not. After all, many died trying to climb Everest before Hilary and Norgay. Ederle, still living at 95, suffered nerve damage in her ears that permanently affected her hearing. Many tried and failed at the same trans-Atlantic flight that Lindbergh conquered, especially after a New York hotel owner offered a $25,000 reward, a lot of money in those days, to anyone who could do it. And we all know -- or is that, don't know -- what happened to famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart.\nEarhart once wrote, "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Isn't that reason enough to hope and believe in our world today that something big might be on our horizons?