Tyrone

In 1996/7, and I cant remember which year exactly, I met Cathy ODowd at a Computer Faire in Durban, South Africa. She was there to honour a sponsorship by Apple. Cathy ODowd was a member of the first South African Everest Expedition. Her team followed the route made famous by Edmund Hillary. She reached the summit on May 25, 1996. Apple had provided some sponsorship, computers etc to the expedition. She was at the Faire to talk about her climb and to give Apple some exposure.

The year 1996 was not a good year for climbing Mt Everest. During the climbing season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in the history of Mt Everest. For the novice Cathy ODowd, to have people dying was a terrible experience. It was a harsh introduction as 37 year-old British team-member and photographer Bruce Herrod died on the descent.

What she suffered the most from, was people attacking her and the rest of the parties who survived. The question she was constantly asked was why not more had been done to save the people who had died. She maintained that there was absolutely nothing that could have been done for these people and further it would have put the lives, of the people who actually made it back, in jeopardy. Her pain in defending her stance was very apparent. She certainly did not take the loss of the team member lightly.

I certainly do not blame Cathy ODowd for the death of people during her climb, or anybody else. However, I just have a question mark as to what distinguishes human beings from the animal kingdom, or other aware entities. And I always think the difference is the compassion humans have towards other human beings.

This could be in the form of the young soldier in Iraq who threw himself onto a grenade so that the others in his team were spared. Or it could be a mother giving one of her organs to her child with a disease. It could be as basic as the youngster standing up in a bus for an elderly person or the teacher in the recent United States school shooting who was killed while trying to protect his scholars.

This compassion was shown again on the latest Mt Everest climbing expedition. A Nepalese climber left to die on Everest by her team was saved today by an American guide and his sherpa who happened to pass her way after returning from their successful summit.

The two gave up their oxygen for her and struggled for 12 hours to pull her down the mountain. During this ordeal they watched another woman fall 1 000m to her death. What is even more extraordinary is the fact that they didnt actually think that the woman they were rescuing would make it. She has in fact recovered from her ordeal.

So what does it mean to be a human being? A disregard for other people, while on a quest and on a mission to achieve ones own goal, with a minimum consideration for the odds of somebody elses survival? Or is it a sign of humanity if one disregards ones own personal safety and in some cases ones own life, to help another person. I know which one I would go for if asked, what about you?

Anja Merret lives in Brighton, UK. Her personal blog http://www.anjamerret.com allows her to voice opinions on issues that interest her and observations she makes.

She has started a new blog http://www.pinkblocks.com that deals with observations on self development and personal power. Her recommendation for self help tools may be found on http://www.anjamerret.blogspot.com