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12/21/2006: "Hard to Say But Needs To Be Said"

The search for the last of a group of three climbers lost on Mt. Hood in Oregon has officially changed from "rescue" to "recovery", and most of the searchers sent home. Two climbers are presumed dead, and a third was found frozen to death in a snow cave. It's a very sad tale, made all the worse by the wall-to-wall news coverage for the last week. You know the drill - all blizzard, all the time.

I feel for the families, who are facing a trauma no one should have to face. I feel for the searchers as well, who put there lives at risk in the hope of helping others. But there's one group I don't feel sorry for - the climbers themselves.

Here's what I don't understand. In all the talk about the climbers' spirit, experience and survival skills, how come no one is pointing out what is obvious to me - they were selfish dumbasses for putting themselves in this position in the first place. Hell, it's two weeks before Christmas - could there possibly be a worse time for such a climb? Just to make it worse, it was a speed climb - light on equipment - as well. And don't forget they left the day before a massive blizzard hit - one that was well documented by the weather folks. Either they weren't nearly as experienced as advertised, or they decided the extra risk just added to the rush.

To me, it's all part of this thinking today that anyone can do anything they want with no regard to the consequences of their actions. It used to be that if you did something stupid, you paid a price. If it was really stupid, you just might pay with your life. Now, we have lawyers to get us a settlement if anything bad happens to us, and if we get in real trouble, we send in droves of rescuers to bail us out. And we know that the media will dog the effort, making everyone put out maximum effort to find us to keep from looking bad in the national media. No one ever has to face the results their actions have caused.

Remember back when the Israelis invaded Lebanon and thousands of American expatriates were trapped in Beirut? It didn't matter that they'd left their homeland to chase a buck ... as soon as they were in trouble, they were all screaming for the military to come save them. And if they weren't fast enough, they were on CNN to whine about it to Anderson Cooper.

At some point, you have to take responsibility for your actions. There is no safety net in life, and if you are foolish enough to believe there is (or should be), you'll end up one of two things - weak or dead.

Sack up, America ...