A Jumping Jogger, a Cliff, and a Twit

"A Jogging Woman Jumps Off A Calif. Cliff To Escape Attacker"
Mitch Marconi, The Post-Chronicle (Denville, NJ) (March 13, 2010)

"A woman made a daring escape from a would-be sexual assaulter. According to reports, then Southern California jogger jumped off a cliff sliding down 100 feet to escape a man who would hurt her, rape her, and possibly kill her...."

This happened at Point Dume State Beach in Malibu, California. The woman survived, and got away with apparently no more injury than cuts and bruises. It seems that her fall was broken by bushes, trees: and rocks.

I think I can understand her decision to jump: even assuming that she thought there was a lethal drop ahead of her. Part of that is my (Christian) beliefs. But the notion of "death before dishonor" is much older.

That picture memorializes a Gaul, in the act of making sure that that the enemy (Romans, most likely) wouldn't take any of his house alive. Much later, there was Njal's Saga, where the hero of the story gets burned to death, with his family. His choice. Those were Vikings - and the family records don't go far enough back to let me tell whether Njal is a kinsman of mine or not. (More about Njal's Saga in a post of February 5, 2009, in another blog.)

Barbaric? Yes: but that's the way they lived. And sometimes it is better to die, than to live. Sometimes it isn't. The trick is learning to tell which is which.

Back to the story of the jumping woman: As it turns out, she had a fright and got up close and personal with contemporary medical procedures, but it sounds like she'll be okay. That sort of thing happens now and then, which is why my household has been learning Soo Bahk Do. Flight is often a good idea: but sometimes it isn't an option.

The would-be rapist? The twit stole her car: which should help the police find him.