Sir Ranulph Fiennes

[Drisgirl]

I cant decide -is he selfish or selfless?

He is at 64 going to attempt Everest.He has a history of heart problems.

He has a young child and his comment (should anything happen to him) was -she has a fantastic mother.

He is raising money for charity but does anyone think that he is entirely self focussed at any cost?

[sp1214]

A couple of years ago he run a marathon on every successive day of the week so I suppose his heart must be stronger than the average person.

[lynbrown]

I cant understand people who push themselves for 'charity'. I wouldnt give money to watch a man try to kill himself. I fell there is something wrong with these dare devil types and they are using the charity as a peg to hang their adventures on. I felt the same about the lady who was dying of cancer but spent her time riding a bike around the world. Cant these people just spend their time with the family who loves them?

[stokemaveric]

at the end of the day he is an adventurer its in his blood,its an adrenelin rush for him,its his life,if it wasnt for people like him we would all be sitting in front of the tv with our slippers on watching midsomer murders and miss marple.i admire him.

[jedimistress]

I was just watching him tonight and thought he was very SELFLESS. He has raised money for Marie Curie Cancer Care, with selfless reasons. He said it was because when his wife was dying, she had him and her family and friends around her. He noticed many dying people had no one and nothing and MMCC provided for these people. They brought in their pets, their photos, and provided support and comfort during the lonely people's last days.

He is now dying and knows he will have support around him as he dies. I admire him for choosing to support the charity which helped others round him rather than himself.

[jedimistress]

Sorry, I did not mean to say he is dying, I meant he had cancer, but if he does die from this.....

[bazwillrun]

he has a family and children, so that makes him about as selfish as you can get

[LoftyLottie]

I think he is selfish. His priority should be his family, especially a young child. We would all like to do things for ourselves, but if we have a child they should come first and we should do everything we can to be there for them.

[Drisgirl]

Firstly I am so sorry I didnt get EMails to say that peeps had posted.I always check my threads -sorry !!

I have to say that I think he is selfish -he has a young baby and he is putting his own peronal goals before his family.I for one think the charity thing is a smokescreen.For all he'll raise -him and his family could donate the money and wouldnt miss it.

No- he is is wanting to fulfil his goals in life -no bad thing -but he should have thought long and hard before he pro-created -now that was selfish IMO.

What got me the most was his throwaway comment -'she has a good mother' -I was seething !!

I think he has proved himself enough but you cant keep an arrogant self centred bast*rd down -can ya ?

[Le Chat]

If her were a woman, leaving his child to go out 'adventuring' the headlines "Unfit Mother" and "Her place is at Home" would be screaming at us!! Remember the fuss when Fergie left Beatrice at home to join Prince Andrew on his naval ship?

[birdie1971]

I am rather surprised at some of the responses to this. The guy�s an absolute national hero. In 2003 he suffered a heart attack and had a double heart bypass. Then four months later, he and his friend completed seven marathons in seven days on seven different continents � all for the British Heart Foundation.

In 2007 he climbed the north face of the Eiger and raised �1.5 million for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity. He did this despite his morbid fear of heights.

He is an exceptional role model for his child � and every one else. He�s a modern day adventurer who does it all for charitable causes. Hardly a selfish thing to do.

Le chat � Your comment is ridiculous. Ever heard of a woman called Jane Tomlinson? She had cancer and was in constant pain, yet she cycled 4,200 miles across the United States and raised �250,000 for charity. She was away from her kids for several weeks. I don�t remember the newspapers screaming �Unfit Mother� at her spectacular achievement.

[birdie1971]

Drisgirl � �I for one think the charity thing is a smokescreen. For all he'll raise -him and his family could donate the money and wouldn�t miss it.�

How can you possibly quantify a statement like that? Unless you�re intimately aware of his and his family�s financial position then your statement is ludicrous.

��you cant keep an arrogant self centred bast*rd down -can ya� � Indeed not.

Nor can you keep the opinions of petty, uninformed morons who like nothing more than to criticise the incredible achievement of others, from appearing on Answer Bank.

[birdie1971]

Lynbrown � �I felt the same about the lady who was dying of cancer but spent her time riding a bike around the world. Cant these people just spend their time with the family who loves them?�

So what you are saying is that Jane Tomlinson�s time would have been better spent sitting on her arse at home, feeling sorry for herself, while her husband and children watched her slowly deteriorate and then die. Yes, that would have been for the best wouldn�t it?

[Le Chat]

birdie-You do seem very passionate about this but I don't think my answer was ridiculous. Doing anything for charity is commendable and people have to make up their own minds about the effect of his voluntary absence on his family, especially as he will be going for good fairly soon. However, it is true as a rule (and not ridiculous) that generally, if a woman leaves her family for any length of time, she is berated by the press. Another example that springs to mind was the group of sailors who were taken by the Iraqi's as hostages. No mention of the children of the men left at home but there was a definite hoo-har about the woman being away.
Personally, I believe he should do as he pleases. I'm sure he did discuss it at length with his family after all!

[Drisgirl]

birdie -ever heard of a good old old fashioned debate without insuting others-thought not !!

Sorry to ALL the other reasoned posters but I am outta here -theres always one !!!!

[Oneeyedvic]

And this is what is wrong with this country today - those who give to society selflessly are regarded as selfish.

How ironic.

[Oneeyedvic]

It is also ironic that this post appears directly above a question asking for charitable donations - to which every reply so far has been about 'charity beginning at home'.

And I would be prepared to bet a fair sum that the majority of those posters do nothing for charity but in the words of birdie " sit on there arse at home, feeling sorry for themselves"

[LoftyLottie]

I still think that charity begins at home when you have small children. That doesn't mean that you can't be charitable elsewhere though.

And I still think that intentionally doing extremely. dangerous things for your own satisfaction is extremely selfish when you have a young family. If you want to do these things then don't have children. Simple as that.

Jane Tomlin the cyclist is a completely different kettle of fish. She didn't put herself at risk, she had a terminal illness that she couldn't have foreseen.

[Oneeyedvic]

And I still think that intentionally doing extremely. dangerous things for your own satisfaction is extremely selfish when you have a young family. If you want to do these things then don't have children. Simple as that.

So as soon as any parent has a child they should automatically stop working as: a policeman, a fireman, a soldier, etc etc.

Of course, you could say that it is not for their satisfaction, it is just a job, but bear in mind that Sir Ranulph Fiennes is an ex SAS officer and has recently completed 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days and has previously climbed the mountain, you could easily argue that he is not putting himself in disproportionate danger.

[Oneeyedvic]

drisgirlbirdie -ever heard of a good old old fashioned debate without insuting others-thought not !!

What like saying I think he is selfish and he is putting his own peronal goals before his family and you cant keep an arrogant self centred bast*rd down

Luckily, no insults there then.

[LoftyLottie]

Sorry Oneeyedvic, you can't move me on this one. He is doing it for his own pleaure with no regard to the fact that his child might be fatherless. To me that is selfish.

I really admire what he has achieved in his life and admire him for his charitable work as well, but basically he has put himself first. If his wife is agreeable then that's fine, but they should both be thinking what is best for the child.