Letters to the Editor
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Simple mistakes compounded
Everyone faces situations they are unprepared for. Be glad if it doesn't kill you.
There is no need to heap opprobrium on the Kims. You can criticize their bad decisions, but they're hardly the first or last urbanites to be unaware of how deadly a mountain road in winter can be. Cars and road trips are part of our familiar world in which nothing usually goes terribly wrong. This time simple mistakes compounded drastically.
Blame the fact that they didn't know all the common sense now being stated here. There is no standard point at which every person is instructed in crossing mountains and snow survival.
The silver lining is that these public tragedies inoculate the population with awareness. Millions who followed this story are likely to now do their interstate road travel more safely and better prepared.
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PLB
Anyone who decides to drive to the Oregon coast at night on a one-lane snow-covered mountain road, with spouse and small children, in order to get to a hotel room, has a serious lack of common sense, whatever his other virtues might be.
But if the person absolutely, positively, can't stomach any alternative, then he should at least have a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) with him. These cost about 600 bucks, fit in a pocket, and send a signal to a satellite when activated. That way the rescue folks know that someone needs to be rescued, and they pretty much know where you are. 600 dollars is not cheap, but it's cheaper than either a massive rescue effort or a funeral.
Next time a "technology writer" decides to do something like that, he'll have a PLB with him. Or, we can just spend a few hundred billion dollars paving wilderness roads and putting traffic signals and street lights on them so that city folk can take crazy shortcuts.
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Don't forget the volunteer recuers
As someone said here earlier, nature is indeed an unforgiving bitch. Even so, thousands of people volunteer (!) to join search and rescue teams all across this country. Their purpose? To rescue both the seasoned outdorsmen and women who occasionally make a mistake, and the idiots who venture out clueless to the inherent dangers of this country's few remaining wild places. Yes... they VOLUTEER to come to the aide of the unlucky accident victim, and those making the stupid conscious decisions. How many volunteers and professionals alike risked their lives searching for the Kim's? Yes it's a fact ... the searchers themselves are all too often at risk of injury or death despite their training and presumed control of their circumstances. Mr Kim's father might better spend his time campaigning for more money, more training, and more equipment for the Search and Rescue Teams and Volunteer Fire Departments of this country than advocating knee jerk legislation and blaming the authorities for his son's bad choices. These days "the rescued" routinely fail to reimburse their volunteer rescuers for their services (a donation to the operating fund would sure help). And worse yet, in all too many situations, the victims family instead threatens litigation! Lucky for the Kim's that anybody still volunteers these days. If not for the volunteers and dedicated professionals (spending their meager budgets well into the red) Kim senior may today be mourning the loss of the entire family. Instead we find him blaming the rescuers et al for the death of his son. Classic American inability to take responsibility for ones own actions. Sad.
Also sad is the poster who called us critics of Kim's actions "annonymous assholes", then signed their post "Annonymous". Perfect
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Posting in public is like speaking in public ...
I gave up public speaking years ago... now I know I can't spell so well in public either.
But I know my limits in the wilderness!
And I also misquoted Anonymous ... it was "shameless assholes".
Sorry
still, no less perfect.
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Kim was not a hero. He was an idiot.
This reminds me of JFK, Junior. He managed to kill himself, and his wife, because he ignored basic aviation safety principles. Kim did the same thing.
Nature doesn't care about legislation, blame or credit-card receipts. If you are as stupid as Kim is, you will die, and no amount of $5,000 per hour helicopters will change that. We have turned into a nation of babies. "If they just changed the rules, then everything would be fine." Crap.
This is Kim's fault. He was stupid. He died. Period. I also agree with the guy who wrote the post about urbanites in the wilderness. I grew up in a very remote area of New York State, and I learned very early that if you do something stupid in the woods, you are going to pay for it. And it isn't a matter of "not being educated." You have to educate yourself. The information's there if you understand the importance of ferreting it out -- in other words, if you realize that the woods isn't Disneyland, and you had better figure out how it all works ahead of time. In my case, I remember being about eight years old, and going ice skating on weak ice, because of a current. I fell through, up to my chest, and had to walk about a mile home, in about 10 degree weather, soaked up to my chest, in skates. That was one of my gentler lessons, but I learned fast. Nature is completely indifferent.
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They Guy Took a WRONG Turn
They went on a road that was supposed to be fenced off and buried in snow.
They weren't going on a wilderness excursion in the car. They were going somewhere thinking that they were on a road to somewhere.
Kim couldn't find the road and wandered off. He was delirious. They were in trouble.
Calling a dead man "idiot" when he made a mistake is quite heavy considering all of you have made mistakes, against nature or not.
This was a deadly mistake but not an idiotic one.
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My blessings to Kati and her girls
Since this story broke 6 weeks ago, I have been touched and affected beyond words. I have asked myself a dozen times why. I have looked at the pictures of this amazing family and cried. I have read about their ordeal numerous times and my heart aches for Kati and her girls.
In the last few weeks I have heard people write stories about how James Kim made a misstep in his decision to leave his family in search of help. Well let's look at things from his point of view. For over a week he watched his children suffer with little food, he watched his wife nurse his children to keep them alive, they were freezing and did not know if and when help was coming. He did what any protective loving father would do. He is a hero
Now there is criticism about his fathers crusade. To Spencer Kim I say "you go man" He is right. Had certain infomration been relayed, and protocol followed, this all could have been avoided. I believe in all that Mr Kim is doing. The changes he is asking for could save a life. He is taking the death of his son and the trauma of his daughter in law and grandchildren and making sure that it all was not in vain. I would have to say his son James would be very proud
Padma Durvasula