Connor+Schow

Connor Schow Mrs. Rachel Bear English 10 24 October 2011 Death is as Important as Life I have had many people close to me in life die, but the closest person to me was my Grandpa Don. He died August 2011 while climbing the highest mountain inWyoming,Gannett Peak. I believe that when it’s someone else’s death it can be one of the hardest things to go through in life, on the other hand I believe that there is nothing more necessary in life. When seeing someone close to us die, for a short amount of time we go into a state of grief and disbelief, but why? That person has come to the final achievement of life, sometimes it feels like the only reason we live is to eventually die. I must admit that even though this is my belief my grandpa’s death was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. ClimbingGannett Peak, his fellow climbers say, was a great time and experience for my grandpa. They had made it all the way to the narrow peak of the mountain when they decided to stop and discuss their next move. Nobody knows why or how this happened, but at that point Don slipped and began to slide down the snowy edge of the mountain. He this pulled out his ice pick and began to “self-arrest” by sticking it into the mountain, to no avail, the snow was far too powdery to hold his weight causing him to continue to fall. Split-seconds before he began to free-fall to his death he made eye-contact with his son, my uncle, and said good-bye. The rest of the climbers couldn’t see or hear him so they realized he must have passed away, they then searched for cell service and called the authorities who sent a helicopter who couldn’t reach him until 3 days later. After this terrible accident not only his family, but a large part ofBoise went into a state of shock and depression. My grandpa was one of the most well known people in the city ofBoise as a pediatric nurse at St. Lukes and the leader/founder of a children and teens diabetic camp calledcamphodia. At his funeral open to the public over 1,000 people came. He was loved and will be missed by everyone he met. Even though this was the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with in my life, I still believe that death is an okay thing and is necessary in life. It is the only thing that everyone in the world has to go through and it’s okay to be sad over but try not to dwell on it for to long because it happens to all of us at one point or another.