As The Prop Turns...

Incident #1: A visiting experienced jumper tells a seemingly content and happy skydiving student how he doesn’t enjoy jumping at the particular DZ they are at because of all the “bad vibes.” This jumper also tells the student to check out other DZs where the “vibes” are better. Incident #2: A regular experienced jumper comes out on the weekend to tell as many jumpers who will listen that another experienced jumper at the DZ has probably stolen several hundred dollars from her. The “accuser” has not personally spoken to the “accused” about the alleged theft but chooses to instead take the accusation public in an attempt to ruin the other jumper’s reputation and gain support for her accusation. Incident #3: An experienced skydiver posting praise for another drop zone's boogie on a skydiving newsgroup finishes off his comments by bashing a close-by DZ that had nothing to do with the boogie. Skydiving is my fulltime job. I love the sport and the people I jump with, but some of the jumpers out there “kill me” with their lack of couth when visiting another DZ , lack of respect for their skydiving friends, and the continual grudges some hold for DZs. If you don’t like jumping at a particular DZ because of the supposed “bad vibes,” then go somewhere else. When you show up and spout your unhappiness with a DZ or its jumpers, the only “bad vibes” as that DZ is you. For those of you who believe another jumper may have wronged you, but you aren’t certain, don’t take the issue public with skydivers at the drop zone. Confront the person or people you believe actually may have wronged you. Taking the issue public does not solve anything and ruins relationships if your accusations are later shown to be wrong. And lastly, if you haven’t visited a particular DZ in the past 6 months, get off your soap box. Continually bashing another DZ publicly for supposed issues one year ago does not help our sport in any way. It only pushes away new people looking for a fun sport to take their mind off the “real world.”