Don't Let The Fear Mongers Determine Your Destination
What a joy to see Jessica Watson triumph in her solo journey around the world - record breaking or not
. Yet is seems it was not the sharks in the water she needed to be wary of, but the ones on dry land circling her now - and I bet she and her team are surrounded by them!Emily O'Keefe reports in her ninemsn story titled "Sponsors Stand by Jessica Watson":
"Jessica Watson's sponsors have leapt to her defence, despite news today she will not be breaking a world record for her journey.
Jeff Fraser from Yamnar, a marine engine company who is a sponsor of Watson's journey, said he remained "100 per cent" behind the teen sailor.
"World record or no world record it is a great achievement for someone of her age," Mr Fraser said.
When asked if his company had been led to believe Watson, 16, would be breaking the record for the youngest person to sail around the world unassisted, he replied: "That is a good question. I would probably have to go through our paperwork. We probably thought yes.""
What I see here is that ugly, tall-poppy syndrome for which we Aussies are so well known. What I also see is a scurrilous attempt by her detractors in the media to give Jessica's sponsors cause to question their faith in Jessica and her team.
Clearly there will be attempts by rivals and cynics to white-ant her sponsors' loyalty to Jessica's team at this amazing moment in Australia's history. No doubt some would bank on the likelihood that her victorious homecoming and the possible whiff of financial reward will bring out the ugliest qualities within her own ranks and if there is jealousy and greed to be had, it would not be difficult to bring anyone's integrity into question.
If I were her sponsor now, would I question the value of my sponsorship or consider myself blessed? Would I ask whether I had been deceived and set out to hold someone to account; or, would I count my good fortune and let all else pass as trivial history in the grander scheme of things? I can assure you it would be the latter.
So what if she didn't make the record books as appears was one of the stated objectives of the team? Aside from anything else, before her journey, I am sure her sponsors would have been given no promise of global media coverage befitting of any member of Royalty or even the US President himself. Nor would they have been given any promise of a successful outcome with her triumphant return. Indeed, who could have foreseen how Jessica's story could inspire and touch the hearts of so many?
Had she traveled the additional 2000 nautical miles required to make the record books, and had she met with grief or had her boat sunk, her sponsors probably never would have had the positive, global coverage and adulation they themselves now enjoy. Instead, they could have been facing the prospect of an adverse media campaign, and perhaps even a Royal Commission Inquiry or Coronial Inquest into her ill-fated journey had that been the outcome.
The stakes were high and it is nothing short of a miracle that the NSW child protection services didn't muster up their usual venom to harass the family and intervene to prevent the trip in the first instance. For my part, I also hope her team's ship is as tight as Ella's Pink Lady and that no lawyers are ever called in to lend credence to those mean-spirited, dark-hearted questions and innuendos, as they are surely superfluous now.
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