Would you have helped David Sharp? He's the British mountaineer who collapsed on his way up Mount Everest last week. In desperate need of oxygen, about 40 people walked right on by while he sat dying.
That's right, 40 people climbing Mount Everest saw Sharp but kept on climbing. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the top way back in 1953, called this horrifying. I agree.
Some of the forty walked right on by Sharp because they didn't think he'd have a chance to survive even with their help. Others were afraid of jeopardizing their own climb. Others just didn't care. I've never reached the top of Everest and I'll probably never even try, but if I were at its base camp I'd like to think I'd do whatever I could for someone in need until they had gulped their last breath. This culture where you blow by a fellow mountaineer in trouble because it's better him than you is pathetic.
They're right about one thing though. David Sharp never had a chance.
