I remember when she said her dad was going to go instead and I thought "uhh, I don't think that's going to work.. I should just go" but I didn't really like her that much at that point and figured it would just be a lame wasted hike, not that the dude would die.
But in this case, when it's a clear "either I put off changing my oil and washing my car, or this 250 lb senior citizen with gout tries going on a hike", it's a lot more clear.
I get it, I got friends and family that have completed suicide and it’s hard to not think about what I could have done differently.
Yeah, he died. Yeah, he was out of shape.
He wanted to keep his daughter safe, and trying to do so cost him his life. He did something heroic.
What have you done at that level of importance?
He should have hiked more often.
Have there been about 75 where it was? If so, congrats on beating the odds.
I thought for a second and said "idk, probably like 1 in 100 we would have died... Maybe even worse than that.. I don't think I could pull that off 100 times"
And that weird realization made something click and I've stopped doing stupid things.
The new me would have thought "hey, if 100 65 year old obese men with gout go hiking, at least one of them isn't making it back". 22 year old me thought "eh, he's just going to be slow".
I wasn't THAT busy, maybe I just had things to do that I wanted to get done more than go on a hike.
As others have already stated though it's really not GP's fault and they're not responsible for managing other's decisions. Could they have saved a person? Maybe. Or maybe the late father would have died a week later anyways.
In any case, obesity is the result of a lifestyle and going on the hike was a choice that he made and that his daughter accepted when she chose to go on the hike with her father knowing his condition.
Tragic, but there it is. The clock is ticking for us all. Any day now.
