It’s really cool to tell about the exploits of mountaineers, hikers, flyers and practitioners of the most diverse types of adventure sports. It was about something like that, something cool, that I had planned to write in this little corner that fits me every week. But it’s not cool to miss yet another death like that of young Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, thrown from an abandoned bridge in the Limeira region, in the interior of São Paulo, and killed at the age of 21 due to the irresponsibility, incompetence and/or inattention of some citizens who sold the promise of adrenaline at 40 meters high, and who forgot the most basic thing: attaching the rope to the girl’s body before throwing her into the void.
Forgive me for legal matters, but this column will not ignore Maria Eduarda’s death.
Because the worst thing is that absurd cases like Maria Eduarda’s happen practically every weekend, with results ranging from simple abrasions to serious injuries and, yes, deaths. The mountaineering season causes anxiety attacks in every fire department in the vicinity of the beautiful landscapes that many want to enjoy and which, unfortunately, so many face without the slightest information or the slightest and most appropriate guidance. There isn’t a weekend this time of year in which at least one rescue doesn’t occur in some beautiful view that, from a dream, becomes a nightmare or a statistic.
Some of these cases make their way onto social networks and, with them, the media, especially if they generate impressive images such as Maria Eduarda’s fatal flight. Upon its publication, fiery and generally uninformed debates are sparked that begin with the immoral “she looked for it” and go on to the even more immoral publication of photos of the injured body — yes, we even receive that here, to the despair of the most sensitive stomachs. Human morbidity has no limits.
Many of the cases, however, and it can be said that this is the majority of statistics, because no one remembered or had time to film or photograph the moment of the event, barely reach the WhatsApp and Telegram groups specialized in adventure sports. In them, too, the positions are divided: for many, the dissemination of this type of image compromises the business of the entire segment of, in general, small entrepreneurs. The majority, unfortunately, are informal and carry out their activities in violation of the rules, who live by selling precisely the taste of boldness, the chill in the spine, the colorful image that will go up, of course, on such networks.
It’s as if, by sweeping the dirt under the rug from the public eye, the mess could continue free and loose to trap the next unwary person.
But, be careful: it is important to make it clear that no layman is obliged to know about all the risks, nor the procedures that must be taken, much less check the CNPJ and the capybara of those who are hiring because they saw on the profile of their friend or, worse, the influencer on duty, beautiful images of those who were lucky. The bridge was not hidden in some remote part of the Amazon rainforest, but in a densely populated region in the interior of the richest state in the Union. In plain sight of anyone who wanted to see the many customers who irregularly sought out the activity every weekend.
If Maria Eduarda fell from a bridge that shouldn’t have been there, because it led from nowhere to nowhere; whether the bridge belongs to the federal, municipal or Venusian government; whether those who committed the barbaric act were more or less experienced, more or less qualified, or irresponsible adventurers who took the risk of killing; if they had already sold the service to dozens of people who lived to tell about it — none of this eliminates the basic factor that is present in practically all adventure sports events: there is no point in saying that something cannot be done like this or that way, that this or that cannot be done here or there, if there is not rigorous supervision that inhibits as much as possible what, in itself, will always be a risky activity, and it is good for this to be clear.
It is not, however, about seeking the simplistic solution of blaming the sofa for the betrayal and throwing the furniture out the window, defending the ban on rope jumping, or base jumping, or any other adventure sport, which generates income and attracts a different tourist. Rather, it is about ensuring that someone (and it will not be the customer) will make sure that whoever offers a service is at least legalized, qualified and able to prove that they follow all the safety procedures that the regulations require. Thinking that telling journalists that you are prohibiting the practice of this or that, here or there, and that by doing so you will avoid new problems is covering the sun with a very thick sieve and trying to blind public opinion. Worse: allowing other Marias Eduardas to make sensationalist headlines.
To the family, my condolences.
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