Monday, January 21, 2008



Isn't it Ironic?


A Canadian man survived 96 hours pinned under his all-terrain vehicle in the Rocky Mountains by eating rotting animal carcasses and drinking melted snow.


He said he was checking animal traps on January 8 in an area about 80 miles southwest of Calgary, where ranchers had complained of wolves preying on livestock. The vehicle hit a rock, throwing him off and settling on his legs.


I'm going to go out on a limb (pun intended) and guess that he doesn't see the irony of his being trapped by having his leg pinned down while he was out checking on his barbaric animal traps.
Besides, a real man would have gnawed through his own leg. . . .


Speaking of real men, I recently purchased an audible book - Three Cups of Tea. The website describes the book as follows:


In 1993 Greg Mortenson was descending from his failed attempt to reach the peak of K2. Exhausted and disoriented, he wandered away from his group into the most desolate reaches of northern Pakistan. Alone, without food, water, or shelter he eventually stumbled into an impoverished Pakistani village where he was nursed back to health.

While recovering he observed the village’s 84 children sitting outdoors, scratching their lessons in the dirt with sticks. The village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher. When he left the village, he promised that he would return to build them a school.


From that rash, heartfelt promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time: Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism and terrorism by building schools—especially for girls—throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Twelve years later he’s built fifty-five schools. In 2005, the schools educated 24,000 children.


Two men: one's an idiot, one's a hero.

10 Comments:

Blogger Auburn Kat said...

Unfortunately you are right about which one will get more press! I'm really not a fan of today's media at all.

7:01 PM  
Blogger sage said...

I'd heard of the schools in Pakistan guy--but missed the story of the guy eating rotting animal carcasses--he'd gotten more press if he'd gnawed his leg--good observations!

7:41 PM  
Blogger M-M-M-Mishy said...

In my experience, Canadian men are idiots. No big story there.

Im off to catch up on your vacation photos.

8:28 PM  
Blogger norm said...

Norn thinks he was an idiot for trying to climb K2. But the experience made him a hero. Fantastic story!!

8:39 PM  
Blogger LA said...

The Greg Mortenson story is incredible. Now that should be made into a film!

9:47 PM  
Blogger Prunella Jones said...

I didn't hear about either of those stories. Guess I should read other things besides the Weekly World News.

8:02 AM  
Blogger Princess in Galoshes said...

Would you recommend Three Cups of Tea as a good read? Or better on audio?

8:48 AM  
Blogger maggie moran said...

Last month they read 3 Cups of Tea for book discussion, I just listened. We had some people wanting to know why he didn't do this for American students.

Don't you think he did it because it was doable!?! Labor was cheap, materials were cheap, the teachers were cheap, etc. This is a project which you can see from start to finish. In America we give money and let the other guy deal with the IRS, building codes, local laws, unions, etc.

Oh, and I'm sure the man doesn't see the irony, but it makes a great short story. ;D

1:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both are great stories... for different reasons of course.

5:48 PM  
Blogger kookla@work said...

Both great stories! I love the irony of the first, and the incredible fortitude of the second.

2:50 PM  

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