Tragic
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
I feel compelled to write something about the tragedy surrounding the discovery of James Kim in the Oregon wilderness. I have been obsessively refreshing the family website that was created to update the public on breaking developments in the hunt.

I know that the loss of 1 man is, at least statistically, nothing compared to disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesian Tsunami...but when it comes down to the loss of life, do metrics really even apply? There is no way to quantify suffering, grief, and tragedy. The optimist in me wants to say something cliche, like "at least he traveled far and had his family's welfare in mind," or "he had a good life," but the cold, hard fact is that a man has died, 2 children are now without a father, and a good woman has lost the love of her life.

And that? That is infinitely sad.

My prayers and thoughts go out to the families of James and Kati Kim.