Friday, May 26, 2006

What is Wrong With People?

Hat tip to my mom for telling me about this story.

"Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary said Wednesday he was shocked that dozens of climbers left a British mountaineer to die during their own attempts on the world's tallest peak.


David Sharp, 34, died apparently of oxygen deficiency while descending from the summit during a solo climb last week.

More than 40 climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and almost all continued to the summit without offering assistance.

"Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain," Hillary was quoted as saying in an interview with New Zealand Press Association."

You can read the entire story here.

9 comments:

Tony Arnold said...

I read everyday in the news crap that makes my soul scream this question.

In my life time, it seems that right now we have peaked in the area of personal selfishness.

No wonder so many cannot find happiness in their life despite success and materialism.

When you have put someone else ahead of yourself, you know how good it feels. This gets to the heart of the dead in sin discussion over at our MD blog doesn't it?

Tony

JMG said...

Yes, it does. And it also reminds me of what Jesus said about people's love for each other growing cold.

Ayatollah Mugsy said...

It is indeed a sad state of affairs when mountain climbers will put their own foolhardy acts above the life of another. This runs completely counter to my compassionate conservative leadership style.

I am reminded of a story I read a while back about an amputee who attempted to "climb" Mount Everest by being carried to the summit by a pair of shirpas. The story lauded the man as if he were somehow heroic. Meanwhile, all I could think about was how he was endangering the lives of those poor shirpas just to stroke his own ego.

Anonymous said...

ayatollah mugsy, I couldn't have said it better myself. Also, as I understand the story there was a climber who passed him by who had been rescued from the same mountain several years ago. He will probably have a difficult time sleeping for a while. I am sorry there was no good samaritan to help this climber.

jettybetty said...

Amazing...
When I read those stories it does make me wonder if I am missing someone in my path--I pray I am not!

Tony Arnold said...

What is worse is how the media has sensationalized to the whole thing for their own profits. They too have focused on everything but the individual who was hurt. He was a subpart to their stories, to the point that the impression is the climber died.

I have come to understand he lived.

Tony

JMG said...

Gosh, what a sorry state when the media can't (or won't) take the time to get the story right just to boost their own ratings!

Mom, it took you long enough to start commenting on this blog!

Ayatollah Mugsy said...

Did he survive? I heard on the news that a climber on Everest who had been thought dead actually survived, but it sounded like they said a different name on TV than the one in this story -- David Sharp. (I was online at the time, so I checked to see if it was the same person.) I could be wrong, but I think it was a different climber.

JMG said...

I heard that story also, Mugsy. I'm all confused. However, the story on the news did repeat the idea of several people passing the guy by, and they showed Edmund Hilary talking about how awful that was, so apparently that part of the story is still true.