Mount Hua

As one of my favorite things to do on vacation is to hike, an article about the Mount Hua climb caught my eye. I’ve climbed Harney Peak, which is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains, twice in my life. It seems sort of unlikely since I’m so terrified of heights that I literally need to sit down if I feel too threatened by a place I’m standing because of its height. It’s not that I’m faint or dizzy, it’s an instinct for my body to be lower to the ground so I can’t fall over the edge. So when seeing the climb some people take in China, I know how scary it is and I definitely see that it has the potential to be dangerous. The first picture they show is a person’s foot on 3 boards that look like they’re maybe 4 inches wide, each, at the most.  Then they say that if you were to fall, it’d be a mile long drop.

After that picture they show one of woman on a latter. This latter looks very old and probably fragile but people are still allowed to climb it. I can’t even imagine how id deal with the view if I looked down.

Another picture shows a man on the narrow boards. This view looks kind of scary, showing the only thing things keeping them from an awful drop. There is some kind of rope, a chain, and the boards.

From the angle of this hike up the side of the mountain, it looks like a long, and very difficult climb.

This picture of locks is just one of the places couples stop to show their commitment in their relationship. Closing the lock around places like this and then throwing the key off the side of the mountain, they show their eternal love for each other.

Seeing these pictures gave me some perspective, I’ve been to cave dwellings that Indians used to live in, I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Hiked Harney Peak, and so many other significant places with heights and views like the ones on Mount Hua but Mount Hua is definitely and respectively a place that is way too dangerous for my liking but would be so awesome to climb.

Drunk Driving

In 2007, Faith’s life changed forever in a drunk driving accident. Faith’s mother was banned from driving after a DUI and was driving a new BMW that Faith’s father (divorced from her mother) provided even after he knew of the DUI’s. Faith, her friend, her sister, and brother were all in the car when it crashed. Faith’s sister and friend died while her mother, brother, and she escaped with injuries. Faith was 7 years old at the time of the accident and now, at the age of 12, has filed a lawsuit to sue her parents both through her grandfather. She is suing for physical and psychological damage.

This is happening in Ireland which I am assuming is much the same as America in this case. DUI’s happen, sadly, a lot all around the world resulting most times in at least injuries if not also death. It’s sad that anyone could have such poor judgment to drive after drinking. But a parent should know better. Knowing better is the least of it. Maybe a better way to put it is that parents would normally be more protective of their kids than to even consider anything of the sort. Sorry, I can rant without a sentence that even comes close to my thoughts.

In different cultures, parents favor the boy over the girl for income or honor. They have different techniques of raising their kids, tough love or spoiling them. Maybe both. But under any style or circumstances, no parent would ever be able to let their child walk into harm’s way if they could help it. And drunk driving is one of the most certain ways to get someone hurt no matter what circumstance.

I know no one is a perfect parent no matter where in the world they live, and I will never be perfect either. I just wish people made better calls of judgment than the calls the mother made to drive or the father made to purchase the car even with her suspended license.

Troubled Jumpers

I saw an article on Yahoo that explained the job of one particular man who lives in San Francisco. His job is to do highway parole which covers the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge is super popular for a vacationing site to see and it is so well known as a major man made structure. Kevin has had this patrol job for many years and he is particularly fit for the job because of how he does with it. That might be a bit confusing. Kevin has talked to many people who he found there, on the Bridge, and has helped almost every single one who was looking at the water, debating the jump. Kevin talks to the troubled people to talk them out of committing suicide. He says that in order to get them to start talking he asks their name, if they have family, their families names.. then he goes into what has troubled this person so much that they think they want to jump. He says the thing that gets them to come back to him is usually their children. He asks about their kids and they usually decide their kids are too important to abandon.

Kevin stayed on the bridge for hours with one person and the reason they decided not to jump was because Kevin was there, being so caring and wouldn’t give up. Kevin only ever lost one guy who shaked Kevin’s hand and said it was time for him to leave.

I know that this event wasn’t something that happened in the rest of the world but when I think about it, things like this probably happen all the time all over the world. The Golden Gate Bridge hasn’t been the only place someone has jumped in order to commit suicide. Its sad but true. And im not sure what the numbers are for suicides in other countries but even if its lower than the U.S., caring people like Kevin help Troubled people like the ones he has helped on the famous bridge.

Hotel Rwanda

My sophomore year, in world history, we watched a movie named Hotel Rwanda. I’ve now just watched it again in World Humanities. In the 1990’s there was a massive Genocide in the country of Rwanda. Rebels killed around a million people. Their reasoning is still baffling to me because I don’t understand harming another human at all, let alone because of how they look or their race. I don’t understand violence like the murders that happened at all.

Hutus and Tutsis are two categories of races. The categories were established for a reason I can’t remember. It has something to do with minorities and who would do what to contribute to society and work. Whoever organized the boundaries that distinguished the fine line of Hutus and Tutsis gave some odd requirements. Factors like height made a difference. In order to be Tutsi, you had to be over a certain height. Also things like skin color (lighter or darker), nose width, head shape, etc. were considered. Tutsis were favored and after the distinguishments were made, tended to be more beautiful.

In the movie Hotel Rwanda, it follows a man and his family along with the upkeep and sanctuary that his hotel brought to many refugees. This was based off of a true story during the genocide. This man lives through many days in fear along with others of being attacked by the Hutu rebels. This man is Hutu and is offered to join in by one of the Hutu rebel leaders. But he is a good man and his wife is Tutsi making his loved ones targets. He keeps his hotel and survives only with supplies like fancy cigars and good whiskey to bribe the connections he has to help guard his hotel or call off attacks by rebels. Money is of no use to his connections at a certain point. In the end, his hotel is up kept to the best of his and his staffs ability with over the maximum capacity. The hotel came under attack near the end but most make it out on UN trucks.

This man was a hero for housing refugees at a great risk and with little help for such a length of time. He made smart decisions and did all he could to keep others safe.

Dickins Medal

We know that men and women give their lives overseas, fighting for our country. We receive news of their heroic stories and are so proud of our troops. But these humans are not the only ones serving our country. Some dogs help out in combat or other forms of war from sniffing out bombs to rescuing survivors of disasters or attacks. Other animals also help out in important missions and duties. Some of these special animals are awarded something called the Dickins Medal, named after Maria Dickin.

Recently, a dog named Theo worked with Lance sniffing out roadside bombs. One day, Lance died in a firefight. Only hours after, Theo had a seizure which caused his passing. Lance’s mother is still convinced that Theo died of a broken heart.

Theo was the 28^th dog to have been awarded the medal. Around 32 pigeons have been awarded the medal for carrying information from the frontline, one of which carried valuable information to stop bombing that would have taken the lives of over 100 allied soldiers in a different country. Three horses have been awarded with the medal, and only one cat has received the medal for keeping up its duties of killing rats on a ship even after being injured while the ship was trapped in Chinese waters.

Its really amazing how humans and animals can communicate to such an extent that a pigeon is able to get important messages to the exact location it needed to deliver it to. I have no idea how they trained pigeons to do that. I’m not judging but, I’m not sure how the cat got this medal. I love cats, I do, but I’m not sure how much of an impact rats could make on a ship. Maybe I am just out of some big loop that obviously states that rats were a danger to the people in some big way.