Opinionated articles about solving humanity’s biggest problems are not really my style, typically I write about adventure travel and action sports with a heavy dose of snowboarding. But today I am going off-piste, to discuss how the skiing vs snowboarding debate mirrors much more serious issues facing humanity.
Skiing vs snowboarding
Barely a week goes by without a discussion about segregating skiers and snowboarders cropping up on social media. This time ski legend Lindsey Vonn has started the debate by saying “I do like snowboarders but it would be super great if there could be a little separation.”
I have huge respect for what Miss Vonn has achieved on the ski slopes. But I find my respect sliding on thin spring snow when she calls for separation, particularly as I expect she rarely skis busy public slopes.
Cue another raging skiing vs snowboarding debate, with us normal folk arguing about why we should, or should not, be segregated. It ends up in a heated and often personal argument about who knows more, and whose opinion is more valid.
In the end we spend so much time concentrating on the differences between skiing and snowboarding, that we don’t see the similarities. But both sports use a combination of wood and plastic to help us slide down mountains. And both sports use sharp metal edges to help us turn and stop on snow.
The similarities don’t stop at the physical, as skiers and snowboarders have a similar mindset. We like being outdoors, enjoy the challenge of a hostile environment, and are normally adventurous people. Most of us will push ourselves close to the limit of our ability. Why? Because it is fun.
When you think of it like that skiers and snowboarders are almost the same. OK some of us travel forwards and others sideways, and some have one plank instead of two. But skiing and snowboarding are both just sliding on snow, and there’s less difference between us than between a swimmer doing backstroke and another butterfly.
It’s just sliding on snow
With the skiing vs snowboarding argument raging between us we are fighting the wrong enemy. The enemy is not those slightly different snow sliders, but the things causing a decline in snowsports, such as video games, low risk culture, rising costs, and more accessible sports.
To fix the problems facing the industry skiers and snowboarders need to fight together, not against each other. We need to ditch the ‘I am cooler’, ‘I was here first’, and ‘I am better’ attitude. We need to drop the snobbery and work with other sliders to get more people skiing and snowboarding.
I think most of my fellow snow sliders agree, and for the majority the skiing vs snowboarding debate is just light hearted banter. In fact many of us slide both ways, and most people know at least one ‘goodun’ from the opposing camp.
Unfortunately as with any section of society there are a few idiots who ruin it for the rest of us. They slide dangerously, don’t obey the rules, are obnoxious, rude and reinforce negative stereotypes. They keep the skiing vs snowboarding debate raging both on and off the slopes.
Unfortunately you’ll spot idiots like them in almost every facet of your life. They are the dangerous driver you just avoided, the guy in a bar looking for a fight, or the divisive influence in the workplace.
Solving humanity’s biggest problems
So what has this got to do with solving humanity’s biggest problems? Well the skiing vs snowboarding argument is just a tiny manifestation of all that is wrong with the world. It shows how people doing something very similar can argue over meaningless differences and segregate themselves into two groups.
Replace ‘skiing vs snowboarding’ with different nationalities, skin colour, gender, sexual preference, religion etc. and you have differences that people die because of. But despite our differences we are all humans. We are all just sentient animals sliding through time and space on a journey we call life.
The only difference is how we choose to slide. But we focus on the how, we make a big issue out of it and we kill each other over it. This constant fight over our differences means we lose focus on the real problems facing humanity, such as over-population, climate change, destruction of resources, pollution and natural disasters.
While we waste our resources fighting over our slight differences, we are losing the ability to advance our species and solve these problems. Just like on the slopes, some people flame the differences through reckless, irresponsible and evil behaviour – often with dire consequences.
But the vast majority of people don’t want to hurt, or even upset, other people. Despite the many physical, social and spiritual differences across humanity, most people just want to live life in an enjoyable and fulfilling manner, leaving behind a legacy they are proud of.
The enemy is not the person who is different to you. It’s not even the ‘leaders’ who tell you that those differences make them the enemy. The enemy is those things that cause misery, suffering and death, and anything that could destroy or hold back humanity.
Just like the skiing vs snowboarding debate, we need to stop fighting over the differences between us and work together for the greater good. Those people who profit from our fear of the differences, will lose their power over us once humanity realises that we are all the same.
What worries me is that if skiers and snowboarders – two almost identical groups of people – can’t get on and work together, then what chance does humanity have?
