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Bad Climber
climber
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Interesting thread. I fear protracted pain, for sure. I fear losing my loved ones. I fear losing my dog, who is curled next to my chair as I type. I think of a mantra I mumbled in the mountains above Lake Tahoe where I have spread the ashes of my mother and father: We are all temporary.
So what was good about today?
What can I value and worship and honor?
It was a perfectly clear day in the southern Sierras. I worked with some fine and enthusiastic young people at the college where I teach. My students make me laugh and feel happy to be alive and incredibly lucky to have my job. My dog, Django, was super happy to see me when I got home! I made some progress setting up a tandem trike for me and my wife, which we will pedal from Lone Pine to Vegas this winter. I had a great pizza and a few beers for a man-and-his-dog-home-alone weekend.
If I'm honest, that's plenty. Hell, could be living under ISIS in some sweltering sand hole.
What I want to know and won't live to see: What will life be like when the oil is finally gone?
BAd
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
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explain...
One of Hubert's favorite lines. He died (achieved death?) in 2003. Did he fear it? I never thought to ask him.
There is a line of thought that says that (a well-lived) life culminates in death and (happy, fulfilled) life ever after.
Was Hubert showing pity on these sinners who were not going to make it?
What exactly is a sinner? Does it vary through time and/or geographically?
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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What exactly is a sinner? Does it vary through time and/or geographically?
Ask an honest sinner such as FlipFlop. I bet he could answer your question.
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thebravecowboy
climber
hold on tight boys
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Skully, all I know is that life is pretty damn sweet. No reason to fear death, maybe just try to avoid it.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Cowboy. Not sure why I watched it but it was fascinating in a very peculiar way.
Susan
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WBraun
climber
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No reason to fear death, maybe just try to avoid it.
It's never ever been done.
No mortal has ever escaped .......
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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That was very cool, cowboy.
See what we miss when we don't live in time-lapse mode? lol!
the comments at youtube are hilarious.
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Bushman
Social climber
Elk Grove, CA
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'Another close call'
My last close call was about five years ago. I was doing a tree job in Sacramento and was up about 50 feet thinning and shaping a huge Tuliptree. I remember taking a shortcut that almost proved my undoing. Instead of keeping my pole saw tied hanging down off my harness I hung it off a limb and left it there so I could swing to the other side of the tree and make a few cuts with my chainsaw. I had climbed down about 15 feet before I swung back across to where I had been trimming before and forgot that my pole saw would now be hanging well above my head. My rope hit it and bounced it off the limb it was hanging on. I saw it as it flashed by me and I tried to duck down to keep it from hitting me. Unfortunately the blade was towards me and before I could get out of the way, it sliced across the side of my neck as it fell past me.
As I felt it cut deeply I knew that the jugular vein and carotid artery were in jeopardy, and my first thought was, "is this the day that I die?" Luckily it wasn't that deep and after feeling with my hand I realized that some stitches would be in order, but the blood was minimal so I tied a bandanna around my neck snuggly and completed the job. Six stitches was a small price to pay for a lesson in how I might have paid for my impatience.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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^^^It's the no sh!t finger of fate, my friend. Admit one to the club.
Good tale told, too.
I just found this on p. 1 of the book I got this morning. I had to buy it, of course.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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what if you do not fear death?
what if the time between then and now is a semi-known variable and only comfort awaits the meeting?
What do you write on a climbing websites forum when asked why you fear death when you don't actually fear death?
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Missed you at Face Lift, Jingy!!! We all did :)
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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^^^ That doesn't change my final answer... ^^^
Thanks Lynne... It's nice to imagine I'm missed when I am not present...
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Captain...or Skully
climber
in the oil patch...Fricken Bakken, that's where
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 3, 2014 - 06:25pm PT
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I just heard today that I'm 3 times likelier to die in ND than any other oil play in the US.
Oh Hell, oh well. Be that as it may, I guess we'll just see how it goes.....
Not particularly afraid, just not real anxious either. Keep yer head down & yer powder dry, like always.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Sitting outside, watching a magnificent but gentle sunset unfold, thinking of Dan who died nearly 7 years ago and then my Dad 8 months ago and now Mom's not doing so hot.
Looking at the beautiful order of the universe unfold in front of me I can't help but think our lives are similar in the unfolding. Each beginning life, so special and unique, like each day, and each ending the same, like tonight.
I've said this so many times here, but I'd like to say it again. When you go to sleep tonight, honor and thank God for the gift of today. Things may not have gone perfectly, but we are blessed with life.
When you wake up tomorrow do the same. Take some time before you leap into the day. Take a quiet moment to honor the day, the gift, and the people in your life.
ps, jesus is my best friend for a reason....... :) lynne
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Skully
Stay out of ND. Of course
Yur still gonna die.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Life is much too short to afford time fearing death.
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Of course we fear death.
We human are not sufficiently intelligent to KNOW much of anything with certainty. Of course, we lie to ourselves and claim we know far more than we do. This topic especially lends itself to assertions of belief and opinion that are couched as "knowledge" when in fact the matters asserted are unknown and unknowable by being as limited as we humanly are.
Thus I say to all posters on this thread "you know not whereof you speak." Myself included. I reserve to myself however the distinction that I admit that I know nothing, and can know nothing with certainty about how I will feel when - WITH CERTAINTY I KNOW ONCE AND FOR ALL - that my own death is not a distant shore but the next, final and inescapable immediacy
And now, with a drum roll, I give you the answer why we fear death. Because we don't know anything about it! And we never can. And we never will.
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