It's too easy see his death and to moralize. For those of us outside his tribe, it's easy to call him crazy and dismiss him because, in some way, it affirms our safe choices. (If letting your body whither behind a desk, eating fast-food, driving in rush-hour, road-rage traffic every day a safe choice... or even living). And, yes, for those inside his tribe or on the fringe of it, it's probably too easy to put him on a pedestal.
But the fact is Shane McConkey was one crazy motherfucker who reminded us all that if we have the audacity follow our dreams, well, we just might be able to fly. (Geoff D’Auria, “Vancouver Ski Legend Dies,” _The Tyee, March 30, 2009) Why write a piece where anyone who questions whether it is maybe a little romantic and inaccurate to identify Shane as someone who "befriends rather than fights his demons and then rides them to worlds beyond ours," becomes some chicken-shit who is afraid to live? I hope that's not part of the culture S...