Althouse: James Kim.

December 6, 2006

James Kim.

It's so sad to read about James Kim, who set out to save his family and did not even have the chance to know, as he was dying, that his wife and daughters would survive.

20 comments:

Mark M said...: Indeed.; 12/6/06, 3:26 PM
Beth said...: I've been following this story since the weekend, and I'm heartbroken.

We've been fans of his for years now, starting with his TechTV days. I've got three CNET episodes on the Tivo right now, and I don't know if I will be able to watch them, knowing he'll be on them. He's always struck me as a nice, smart, good guy, who loves his little girls. What a sad, sad day.; 12/6/06, 3:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Between this and that huge explosion just down the road in Milwaukee, a sad day all around ... the story of the Kim family is especially heartbreaking.; 12/6/06, 3:38 PM
Joe said...: Without being crass, how do you use moments like this to educate people on what not to do when in a similar situation?

Granted, there are dramatic exceptions, but by and large, remaining with your vehicle is the best course of action. (Not only is more readily identifying by searchers, but will tend to be within the search pattern. Setting out on foot will also use up precious energy. An unskilled hiker will also tend to walk in circles.); 12/6/06, 3:43 PM
alphie said...: How sad.

To be so unlucky twice.

To get stuck in the wilderness in the first place and then to go for help just before help arrived...; 12/6/06, 3:44 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I can't believe anyone would derail this thread, but I have had to delete some comments. Shame on you.; 12/6/06, 3:52 PM
Laura Reynolds said...: Joe is right, at least stay on a road. Very sad; 12/6/06, 3:54 PM
Beth said...: Yes, he made a bad decision. I imagine by the time he it, with he and his wife having gone without food for several days, he wasn't thinking clearly. But he was probably thinking that he had to act to save his children, and that is honorable and brave of him, no matter how misguided.; 12/6/06, 4:03 PM
Beth said...: That should be "by the time he made it"; sorry.; 12/6/06, 4:05 PM
Monkey Faced Liberal said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 12/6/06, 4:14 PM
reader_iam said...: Really, really sad. I was so hopeful, once Mrs. Kim and the girls were found. We, too, started following him back in TechTV days.

An amazing part of this story is that two things from the opposite side of the spectrum--high tech and low tech--appear to have been critical for at least Mrs. Kim and the girls surviving. Specifically: A cell phone, which while it didn't work while they were stuck, the last call from which enabled the plotting of a map to determine the area in which they were likely to be found; and the fact that Mrs. Kim was nursing and therefore could keep her children alive for all that time.

Absent those elements, you have to wonder if this story might have ended even more tragically.; 12/6/06, 4:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Here in Oregon we have been obsessed with this story. The outcome is heartbreaking. It is easy at this point to blame the victim, but I believe after waiting with the car for a week, leaving on foot seemed a last ditch effort to find help. Desperation will do that. I have also been on that road. The area is unmarked and very confusing and the maps don't really indicate just how poor the conditions are.

Sad. Terribly, terribly sad.; 12/6/06, 4:26 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: I prefer to regard his decision to set out for help as heroic rather than misguided or desperate. He probably calculated that by leaving the car he diminished his own chances of survival, but increased those of his family. If he stays with the car, they survive only if they are found, but if he goes for help, they survive if they are found or if he reaches help.; 12/6/06, 4:47 PM
KCFleming said...: How tragic for all involved. A simple mistake, then ensnared by nature's whim.

I'd count Mr. Kim as heroic as well, as should his children, for no greater sacrifice can a father make.

It's one of those awful Auden moments where a stranger's death calls to mind those from your past; "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,..."; 12/6/06, 5:04 PM
MDIJim said...: Smilin' Jack has it right. Mr. Kim's choice of action seems foolish given the dangers of walking in snow, but in fact he sacrificed himself to increase his family's chances of survival. Is there a better demonstration of familial love than this?

The mapmakers and perhaps DOT officials have some 'splainin' to do. The OR DOT maps show the road as closed in winter, but Rand mcNally maps do not. Did the Kims find the road on one of those cheesy GPS maps? Did the state post signs at the beginning of the road indicating that it is not maintained in winter?

Folks, since 9/11 and Katrina and now this, we have to think more and more about being prepared mentally, physically, and logistically to protect our families and fend for ourselves.; 12/6/06, 5:21 PM
Anthony said...: One of the local news stations up here in Seattle reported that someone had told them not to go that route and that it was marked as such. The latter bit might have been referring to the map.

I can see going for help after several days. Maybe he thought a short cut would get him to said help faster than simply backtracking. Plus, I think they'd had heavy snows during that time, so the road might have been less passable than the trees for that reason.; 12/6/06, 5:24 PM
Anthony said...: They mentioned that, too, that at a certain point you think you're really hot when in fact you're freezing and you might start taking your clothes off. That seems odd if what they say about the clothing being neatly laid out is true.; 12/6/06, 5:40 PM
Joe Giles said...: There's a line in the book "Patriot Games" where Jack Ryan is telling Lord Holmes that under the difficult circumstances they were in, Holmes did exactly what he should have -- he protected his family.

No easy choices, aye?

My mind can't yet fathom what should have been, what action was wrong, or what road should have been taken.

I can't blame Mr. Kim for anything. Indeed, the courage in telling the family to stay in the car as he took that first step for help...wow. But he did his job -- his family made it out.; 12/6/06, 11:21 PM
Andrew Shimmin said...: I don't know whether it was smart or dumb to leave the car, but I expect most men would rather leave the car, with some hope of bring back help, than sit and watch their children die. The cost/benefit analysis is more complicated than simple probability of living.

Such a nightmare.; 12/7/06, 10:05 AM
altoids1306 said...: It's easy for us armchair generals to clinically dissect the situation, but this guy was in a car with his family for nine days. He would have heard his children crying in hunger for a few days, before they became exhausted, quiet and listless. He would have heard her wife's voice become weaker and softer. He would have felt their flesh become cooler to the touch. The car would have slowly filled with the odor of humans staying in one place for too long.

In that situation, both the body and the mind would demand action. Certainly, the best course of action would have been to create high-contrast markers on the ground or create a column of black smoke, by burning a tire. But reasoned logic cannot fight our genetically programmed response to fight or flight, the quiet whispers of our ancient forebearers.

A lesser man might have looked across the desolate expanse, decide to stay and survive, true. But there is something commendable about putting yourself at risk, to increase, if only slightly, another's chance to live. Heroics might not be effective, or even marginally productive - but they are virtuous nonetheless.

It is an indictment of our society, not of Mr. Kim, that we shake our heads sadly and cluck at his mistakes.

(I hadn't known about the story until read Althouse, but it got to me. Sorry for the poetics.); 12/7/06, 10:37 AM