Hassan Adly(Offline)

Hello,

I've seen some threads on DIRX, where some confused individuals seem desperate to find and expose hypocracy within GUE, and among GUE-trained divers. I think that this comes from a complete lack of understanding of our standards, and why they exist. I want to share my thoughts on this issue. Since one issue that attracts attention is smoking, I will use it as an example.

This is the rule: Diving and smoking are non-compatible; therefore GUE instructors may not smoke, and may not certify smokers. Quite elementary.

Now a question: Can we assume that 100% of GUE instructors and GUE-trained divers will adhere to this rule 100% of the time? My optimistic answer is: I hope so!

The GUE non-smoking standard, and the question of how difficult it may or may not be to uphold that standard, are but a small part of a much larger picture; At GUE and similar schools of thought, all of our standards are set at the highest level - at the top of the scale. It follows that anyone who makes the decision to undertake our training has chosen a difficult path to follow, and vigilance in maintaining our high standards can at times be a struggle. To travel down this stony path with consistency requires integrity, coupled with belief that the reward is great.

Of course there will be jealous wannabes, who rejoice at even the slightest hint of weakness - gleefully wagging their fingers whenever one of us appears to lapse in our struggle even for a moment. Theirs is the true hypocracy; We (and those like us) strive for excellence in our way, while they are mere spectators.

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Hassan Adly

Red Sea Discovery

"Today I will finally see the sea again, which will smell of salt, wind, sand - and the cold of winter. Finally I will not only travel on it but dive in it, again I will become water, a bird - and I will remember the feeling of gliding above the abyss"
Elena Sundukova, tragically lost at sea, January 2007

Michael-Fisch (Online)

Nice, well said.
I'm happy to see that a large part of the GUE instructorship, is not willing to retreat from their organizational principles, and is sticking to their guns.

Back in 98 when I did Cave and Trimix in Florida, I was a smoker. JJ, as an NACD instructor, wasn't willing to train smokers so I got my training from someone else who, also, was very good.
I stopped smoking the end of 99.
It's taken years, but now I don't want to be around smokers, I find the smell offensive. I also don't appreciate heavy drinking, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, ... makes me sick, although I do appreciate the occasional bottle of beer/glass of wine/snifter of any island malt etc.

Michael

DRE(Offline)

I commend GUE for taking this strong pro-health stance as well. I teach for an agency that does not uphold such strict rules, but I personally do (and am allowed) to require much stricter standards. With that being said, there is personal choice in life: I cannot control whether divers smoke or not (as long as they don't do it in front of me during class is all that I can ask), I cannot control whether they keep up a fitness regimen, nor can I control whether they dive deep on air or dive solo. I think as an educator it is our responsilibility to set an example, maintain professional integrity and after that it's just hoping for the best.

David

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www.dirtydiving.com - DIR is not a 4-letter word!

decoweenie(Offline)

Well, MF, you could kiss off ever cave diving with me again if/when I ever move back to Europe...

Mal Bridgeman(Offline)

My buddy used the no-smoking policy as a motivation to give up smoking.....that's quite an achievement for what is essentially a scuba diving agency.

Mal

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Opinions and beliefs are correct at the time of posting but are subject to change without any notice or obligation on the part of the author.

diver42(Offline)

This is an offshoot of another thread, but I thought I would chime in to cut off at the pass some crap I saw in the original.

Nothing in U.S. law would prevent an organization like GUE from excluding smokers, or even the disabled. Employers must make "reasonable accomodations" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but GUE is not an employer.

I don't know if it is your "right" to smoke, as some have suggested. I have no idea what the law is in other countries, but in the U.S. smoking has been banned in the workplace for years. In the capital, Washington, DC, it is now illegal to smoke in any building that is open to the public (though a few cigar bars have an exemption). Thus, in the U.S., the government can clearly prevent people from smoking in certain places.

Further, GUE is not the government. Many people believe that if the government cannot prevent a private person from doing something, neither can another private person prevent it. This is simply not so. For instance, the government may not restrict what you can say in public places. I can prevent you from speaking at all in my house, even if I have invited you in. I can even prevent you from using numbers, or words that begin with the letter G.

Finally, GUE may refuse to associate with anyone it chooses. In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Boy Scouts could legally discriminate against a gay scoutmaster: when he came out of the closet, they kicked him out of the club. He sued and lost.

In sum, nothing in American law prevents GUE from "discriminating" against smokers or the disabled. Now back to your regularly scheduled programing.

Note: This is not legal advice. If you want legal advice, hire a lawyer.

JGrogan(Offline)

We are all in the gutter, but some of us at looking at the stars!

Mats Edenfeldt(Offline)

Smoking is not compatible with diving but here in Scandinavia we have another plague and that is snus, for those that don’t know this it's a small bag of tobacco or loose tobacco rolled into a ball and then put under your lip. This is 3 times stronger then a cigarette and much harder to detect and to stop using since it’s a more powerful drug, and it injects nicotine in to the body in grater amounts. I would consider this up there in the league with cigarettes. Even though you don’t trash your lungs with it.

Snus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To revoke a certification wouldn’t that even include swimming to long and not following the rules of a cave 1 or diving deeper the 50 meters in a tech 1 to? How common is this and have anyone hade there certification revoked on these accounts?
Is stupid to dive while smoking and it as stupid to dive beyond your limits so this must qualify..right/wrong?

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DanPartelly(Offline)

Are the limits of an individual set of its formal education only ? Is 50 m safe and suddenly 52 unsafe ?



Is there an alpine climber limited to climb peaks under 3500m until he is licensed by a certain body? Should he be trashed because he tried a 6500m peak ? Or a sport climber, should he be limited to climb to V and forced to "retire" because he tried a VI, or god forbid a VII ?

Should a base jumper be granted to soil because he jumped from 387 meters instead of 350 ?

Is the pursuit of excellence carved in stone into a single set of rules , an all-mighty codex ? Is it the appanage of a single organization ?

So many questions... so many stars .. so many holes in the ground.

I know only one thing, if we where not to pursuit excellence and break the limits all the time, we would still be in stone age. Somebody have to break the limits for advancing. Is breaking the limits excellence or stupidity ?
Maybe both ?

__________________
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

Marcus Aurelius Ad 121 - 180

Mal Bridgeman(Offline)

Dan - I am sure it's easy to get this stuff out of proportion but we are only talking about scuba diving here, right?
Mal

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Opinions and beliefs are correct at the time of posting but are subject to change without any notice or obligation on the part of the author.