Men, Women, Longevity, Decisions...

Men, so goes the theory - and it's a fairly good one - have shorter life spans than women partly explained by the fact that they're risk-takers and women are not. To the same degree as men, that is - on average. Men are fearless adventurers, intrigued by challenges that they do not spurn to meet. Partly biology, partly legend; men feeling that they must prove themselves as being adequately masculine, interested in all things that men are supposed to be interested in.

Of course it's more than that. It's also that men are physically stronger than women and partly through biological inheritance, partly through social convention, they do things that women do not, although that too is changing and boundaries are being breached all the time - in construction, engineering, the healing arts, sports and adventure. But by and large it is true that women in general tend to be more conservative in their enthusiasms.

It is as though women have the ability to foresee consequences and men haven't the patience to do so. Or they're usually disinterested in consequences, more driven by the opportunities before them to action of one kind or another. In any event, in the winter, in Canada, men, particularly rural dwellers, love various types of winter sports, from snowmobiling to ice fishing. During those same months there are many newspaper reports of deaths due to snowmobiling accidents.

Men, and boys driving at high speeds, losing control, smashing into irresistible objects. And occasionally driving out onto a lake they feel certain is more than sufficiently frozen to take the weight of their vehicle - and that's inclusive of trucks as well - then discovering, too late unfortunately, that this is not the case. Sometimes, passengers die along with the drivers; sometimes someone survives.

"There were dozens of people out enjoying the river", said the distraught man. "There were fishermen, with their own vehicles and huts, and kite surfers, whizzing by at high speed." And there was Lee Bourdon and his girlfriend Rachel Taylor. Who had known one another as kids when they both lived in Aylmer, close to the Ottawa River. But Rachel's family had moved and they lost touch with one another.

Until contact was made through Facebook. That was not at all fortunate for Rachel. At the time they both thought, doubtless it was. They'd been going out together for months, and things were looking seriously interesting. And then came this past week-end, when they'd been out together after a day having fun out on the ice, with Dusty the dog and they drove smack to the centre of the river.

"I've been on the river hundreds of times in the winter with my vehicles and I've never had anything close to this. It was like quicksand. It was unbelievable. I never thought that the ice at this time of year would be so weak". But it was, and he felt, when relating the dreadful incident later, that it had taken less than 5 seconds from the time he heard the ice crack to full submersion.

He understood perfectly what was occurring, and immediately freed himself, calling to Rachel to do the same from the passenger seat. Then realized she was unable to open her door, so he went back for her, and attempted to pull her out of the sinking vehicle. "I yanked at her and I tried to pull her out, but it wasn't working", he said. Three times he tried, he said.

"I couldn't pull her anymore, and the truck was going under, so I had to come back up." And then he ran the two kilometres back to shore to his mother's home on the Aylmer waterfront, and from there he called police. Her body was recovered a day later. And the body of the dog as well, from where it had been seated, in the back of the GMC Blazer.

"It was going really well", he described their blossoming relationship. The last words she spoke to him as he struggled to free her from the truck were "I don't want to die like this". And he, Lee Bourdon, feels responsible. "...deep down...it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard to get over this one. Oh God, I feel responsible."