Last week, roughly forty climbers left a man to die so that they could summit Mount Everest. Few even offered help. Could there be a more fitting symbol of our paradoxical age than man reaching to new heights as he sinks to new depths? As Sir Edmund Hillary observed: "Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain." One doesn't reach the top of the world by slumping to the bottom.
Dead? I thought he was just pining for the fjords!
Worded more philosophically, this could be the basis for a 'Worth Repeating #16'.
Just demonstrates the continued lowering of the bar with regard to the importance of human life and how selfishness has diluted our characters.
Now there's a story that he may be alvie.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060526/en_afp/nepalmountaineering
Beautiful plummage,that climber,
Wm. Clement - Wrong climber story.
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The stories of Everest climbers continue to inspire me. One of my personal heroes, Göran Kropp, rode his bicycle from Stockholm (through Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan) to Nepal, climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen, climbed down, then biked back to Stockholm. Amazing!
This month's events are a nasty reminder that, even amongst heroes, there are sins. Mark Inglis was earning his hero title, being the first person to climb Everest with two artifical legs (both legs were amputated at the knee). His hero title, unfortunately, was more valuable than the life of David Sharp. Why did he ignore the suffering Sharp as he passed him on the mountain? "It's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone anyone else alive".
Perhaps - But I am more trusting of Edmund Hillary's opinion on the topic; a man who was the first to climb Everest (without the aid of modern technology and knowledge) in 1953. "The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by."
How easily we apply the term "hero" to individuals these days. What is a "hero"? Outside of climbing a mountain with two artificial limbs, what did this guy ever do to deserve the title?
I always considered a hero a savior of some sort. This guy certainly wasn't that.
No matter how expensive it is to summit Mount Everest, I could never forget that I passed a dying man to do it. Even if he could not have been saved, it is inexcusable that these people did not even really try. Even if he could not have been saved, they could have stayed with him to comfort him in the last moments of his life. Although, Mr. Inglis is taking most of the grief for not helping, he does not have my sympathy. The only difference between him and the other 39 is that they are gutless wonders who are too embarassed to admit that they passed Mr. Sharp as well.
