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What About Responsibility
Now let me preface this comment by saying I am obviously deeply sympathetic to the family who has suffered this loss, especially the wife and child. But when you are a married man with a child and a pregnant wife, perhaps you need to cut back on crawling around in caves.
8 Responses to “What About Responsibility”
I think we can cut the guy some slack. There had apparently never been a fatality in this cave before and everyone involved was experienced.
But when you are a married man with a child and a pregnant wife, perhaps you need to cut back on driving on highways.
Death Statistics Comparison
maybe he should just go to a bar and smoke, drink and drive drunk…
Just because you think something seems excessively dangerous doesn't mean it really is. You likely put your life at greater risk every time you get in a car.
When I go hiking in the mountains I'm far more worried about the drive there and back than the possibility of hypothermia, avalanches, a broken leg, etc.
I agree with the previous commenters. The tone of this post makes very little sense.
It seems a consensus has been reached. But just to add my two cents:
I'm no spelunking expert, but I imagine that with the right training and precautions, it's no more risky than a number of other outdoor activities that most married people wouldn't be concerned about doing. I don't know if his death was the result of some unavoidable fluke accident, or whether he made a series of poor decisions that led to him getting stuck. But I don't see a reasont to believe either one of those possible causes is particularly unique to spelunking.
I don't disagree with all the comments above about the relative safety of cave exploring if you're trained and know what you're doing, but at the same time maybe we should cut Patrick a little slack, too. I found out about this tragedy via Patrick's post, and when I clicked the link to find out what he was talking about, my immediate inward reaction was the same as his. Of course, I had already read all these comments, so I also knew that, for this man, it wasn't such an extraordinarily risky activity as we imagine it to be, but it's still hard not to have that reaction, at least initially. If this man had died from a statistically riskier activity that he didn't have to be doing, like highway driving late at night after a couple of drinks with the guys, I would feel the same way. There's different ways of looking at it. Some people are more cautious, or superstitious if that's the right word, about taking unnecessary risks than others.
At any rate, I felt bad that Patrick was being piled on a bit too much, so that's just my two cents!
Okay, time to don my DLS devil horns, outrage the many lefties and far lefties on here, and engage in a little defense.
This really was a tragedy, and overall that is the primary conclusion we all draw. But it really was a risky thing to be doing, and to Don Quijote's quote, about something else with a more commonplace risk in life,
“when you are a married man with a child and a pregnant wife”
I'll add that the possible consequences were also made worse in that the man was in the middle of a medical education, the completion and fruits of which were also being put at risk.
Risks have potential consequences. And it merits mention here as well for those with appetites for an additional portion of intellectual stimulation that this event sheds light on the frequent falsehood about what often are called “victimless crimes.” Like a drug overdose, or losing all one's money to one's vice? If one has a wife and child, or is part way through a medical education other substantial commitment, with a substantial reward at its end, also put at risk?
Not a big deal, just a few things additional to think about before piling on Patrick or pounding him hard.