Some suicidal chap called in to a radio station this afternoon to state that his mother's cooking was better than his wife's. This is the equivalent of joking that you are carrying a bomb to an American immigration officer. I hope his wife, and worse her friends, were not listening and recognised his voice.

It has been said that man is the only animal that consciously walks towards danger whether it is climbing Mt Everest "because it is there" or diving in to the depths of the ocean to see what it really looks like down there and how deep it is. I am reminded of Luc Besson's movie Le Grand Bleu which enthralled viewers in Europe with the story of the massive competition between two free divers trying to out do each other in their quest to hold the world record for free diving. In true French fashion, the ending of the movie is ambiguous both celebrating man's desire to go beyond his limits and warning about the dangers of the same. It also, of course, forces the viewer to make his mind up about what the ending could have been.

For many, to live is to stretch yourself to the ultimate limit. How far are you prepared to live a full life, even when it means having it cut short? What is more important, the memory of your legacy or living to a ripe old age and seeing your grand children? Do you have an Everest you have yet to climb or are you happy with a white picket fence and grand children running around? One could argue that Bob Marley and Marilyn Monroe who died at age 36, Martin Luther King and Malcom X both 39, lived a much more fuller life than the the average Joe who lives an average three score and ten.

Who is to say? What would you prefer, a full short life or a long average but peaceful life?