[Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears]

I say it’s stupid.

Climbing a mountain is not the difference between living and merely existing. That’s a false dichotomy.

But thanks for the philosophical lecture.

[SZonian]

Then according to you and folks like you here on FR, just getting out of bed could be classified as “stupid”, driving a car, walking across the street, etc.

Life is fraught with risk...the difference is in how we choose to face it. What the circumstances are when we choose to undertake the challenge of facing the risks, the preparation, etc.

In taking 15 year olds up to Mt. Whitney, I guess according to your understanding, it’s “stupid”. The Scouts should not learn how to prepare, how to undertake the effort and in closing, summit the mountain. To bask in the satisfaction of having done all that they could in order to accomplish something.

I mean it’s not like they’re learning anything in the process, is it?

Life is a journey and if climbing a mountain is part of one man’s journey, then it’s living...it’s not existing.