mrchad9 wrote:jareds wrote:As is often said in situations like these, take comfort in knowing that he died doing something I assume he loved very much while living a life filled with challenge and passion.
This is a statement that I have never understood, or at least one that has never applied to me. I absolutlely do not want my life to end while climbing, nor would I doing anything else I enjoy. I want to see enjoyable tasks through to completion.
I much more frequently think about the possibility of death when I am laying in the dental chair than when I am having a good time.
ha yeah no death wish here. i think the sentiment has to do with associated risks.
Most of what makes skiing fast or climbing high or running far etc awesome is:
1.the difficulty(no one puts up TRs of Mt. Tamalpais ascents!) and
2.the risk of danger/rockfall/exposure/fatigue/disorientation/and even death.
Without these, what we accomplish in the mountains can be done on a treadmill(exercise) / from the seat of a tourbus(seeking beauty) / google maps(exploration) etc.
I do not want to die. I eliminate (what I define as) unnecessary risk in my life(i floss so my dental-chair visits are as short as possible!).
I don't want to eliminate all risk in my life. I drive a car. I eat spicy food.
Additionally, I love to challenge myself. I sometimes fail, sometimes succeed. I've been up certain routes before, I look for new, unfamiliar routes almost exclusively.
If you define 'unnecessary risks' as climbing/paragliding/skiing near your ability level, then yeah stuff we do looks selfish. That said, my passions/interests, or at least my gravitation to these challenging activites(over, say, closely following MLB on ESPN, an equally valid yet much-less-risky hobby) is part of who I am. My wife understood this before we got married, my family understands this; I did a lot of self-evaluation when my son was born and adjusted accordingly, but yeah this is the path I've chosen. Selfish? maybe a little, but ultimately we(wife and I) feel I'm a better husband, father, employee, etc when I have time in the mountains.
The sentiment behind the statement in question lies in this idea: A life cut short is tragic, but not as tragic as dying from cancer or being hit by a car. Terrible and sad nonetheless but it happened in the pursuit of a higher level of self, or self-fulfillment, or self-challenge. Even less tragic would be death in service to others, which goes from tragic to noble.
TL,DR:
yeah kind of a meaningless statement I guess, death is still tragic. Death is inevitable; death while playing seems marginally less-tragic.