These mist covered mountains...

New Zealand mountaineer, Mark Inglis, a paraplegic has conquered Everest. In the world today, amputee's are displaying an amazing spirit. Life has dealt them a hard time, but they have risen to the challenge. His plight can be an inspiration for all of us, showing that with dedication we can make any of our problems easier to deal with. It all starts with a positive outlook. It continues with a spirit which defies the odds. It concludes with action in the face of overwhelming adversity. One has to admire sombody with that kind of spirit. I hope you can feel uplifted today. As a motivational speaker, and co-owner of PeakFuels, an energy bar company, he extolls the virtues of "take it to the next level." On his success he says "nobody can take away what I achieved." Inspirational. The view from the top is supposed to be amazing. He enjoyed it. Doesn't that make you feel good? Honestly. No matter how bad or hard our day has become, there are others not as well off as we are and we should make the most of what we have.

Let us put things in perspective. And yes, perspective is what I would like to discuss today. Some would say that when you have a goal, you push aside any distractions and focus on it. Inglis did this. Perspective. Reaching a goal, especially an important goal is paramount. Reaching your goal by neglecting others is another story. This Mark Inglis abandoned a dying man, David Sharp, as he stormed towards the summit. Perspective. In other media reports it was described as "summit fever." Forty climbers refused to stop and help because the dying man, was, according to Inglis, "effectively dead." Now when I read an account of this tragedy, I waited, reserving judgement, because there are those, that like to discredit people who make something of themselves. I read with sceptisism. And Inglis sounded like he deserved the benefit of the doubt. " It was a very hard decision. We couldn't do anything. He had no oxygen, no proper gloves, things like that. To get David (Sharp) down would have taken 20 sherpas, and he would have died on the way down." It was also said that Sharp was frost bitten so badly, he could only move his eyes. The 34yr old, in good physical condition was no match for the treacherous conditions at Everest. She claims lives every year. Mother Nature can be cruel. Now let us dig a little bit deeper. Inglis said that Sharp didn't have proper gloves. Really? It can cost as much as $75,000 for proper support, in the commercial plight Everest has become. Inglis, a motiviational speaker was sponsored by an Australian engineering firm to the tune of fifty thousand. His other high profile sponsors included Suzuki, Paralympics New Zealand, and others. Team Inglis was determined to succeed. Now, if I was missing two legs I would make sure I had proper support. Yeah, I would buy proper gloves too. David Sharp didn't have enough oxygen bottles either. Was he a champion of a person, pushing himself to the limits, living his goals but failing in that huge aspect of not having much money? Were his gloves a little cheaper, but his ambiton a little deeper. He passed away only 300 meters from the summit, hiding from the elements, spent, alone, cold. And not far away others celebrated, a life long goal. Perspective. The winners were only 300 meters away. And then they walked away. Now am I being too hard on Mr Inglis? How did Mark become a paraplegic? He was rescued after being trapped in a cave for 14 days because of a blizzard. His rescuers risked their lives to rescue him. Sir Edmund Hillary, ( familiar name? google it ) says, " I haven't seen any evidence so far that this chap hiding under a rock was in a hopeless conditon." He would know. Hillary added that, " I don't think it matters a damn if he was from another party, if he was Swiss or from Timbuktu or whatever. He was a human being, and we would regard it as our duty to get him back to safety." For myself, and as one of you says quite often, this is only one man's opinion, I won't be buying any PeakFuel energy bars. Am I out to lunch? He may have died anyways like it was said, and then all the efforts would have been for naught. What do you think?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3682716a11,00.html ---( this is a tame interview with Inglis as I didn't want to choose most of the other "biased" reports )---

We had another report here, about a man, Lincoln Hall, left for dead by his support group because he had become delirious, due to lack of oxygen. He did make it to the top and was on his way down. It was released on the Everest new web sites that his death was verified, due to cerebral oedema, or swelling of the brain. An American, Dan Mazur, found Mr Hall still clinging to life and he abandoned his climb, giving him hot tea, and some of his oxygen. To make another long story brief. He lived.
http://www.mounteverest.net/ <---- this is a good site.
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Dire-Straits/Brothers-In-Arms.html wish i could play the song BUT... that would be illegal, and its an old crummy one anyways. I have always wondered what that song is about.... can you help me.
(sorry about the errors in this one.... )

Chanks.