Touching the void

Then, about a few hundred feet from reaching the end, reaching the finish line, Simon lowered Joe onto a concave cliff like part of the mountain. Joe was reaching out to the emptiness of the cold hard winter mountain and had nothing to hold onto. He could not lift off his weight to be lowered another hundred and fifty feet and then repeat for what could have been the last time. He was now one hundred percent dependent on Simon. His body was just limping out in the open. His arms were reaching out only to touch the void. Joe was free but still a captive since he could do nothing, go nowhere.

Simon waited and wondered, for about an hour, why Joe was not lifting his weight off the rope? The knot was at the plate and there was no way he could release the plate and grasp onto all of Joe’s weight. He’d be dragged off immediately off the mountain if he did that. He’d die! But he knew he had to do something quick… he was being pushed down by the snow behind him. He needed to take action, even if it wasn’t in Joe’s best interest. He needed to survive. He had to survive. He wasn’t the inexperienced climber; he didn’t get his leg injured. He just had to look out on his own. He had already done enough for Joe by coming up with an idea to lower him down. It was Joe who didn’t fulfill his part.

In all the anger and confusion, Simon found the one and only way out of this mess. He’d have to cut the rope. He’d have to cut off, literally, Joe. Joe would suffer a fall but have a chance of survival. He’d probably just fall a couple of feet and would most likely be alive and it wouldn’t be a big damp in Simon’s conscience and the situation wouldn’t make him the villain. These were thoughts in Simon’s head as he reached for his pocket knife and saw the blade get nearer and nearer the rope. Then, quicker than it took for him to convince himself it was the right decision, the rope became two.

His decision may have been quick and brutal, but it was the only thing he could do. He was looking out for his own good. In situations, like the one he found himself in, sometimes you have to make the right decision for you. In this case it was the only thing Simon could do for himself. He either got pushed off by the snow or was going to be pulled off by the force of Joe’s weight hanging in the void. In my opinion, he was doing the right thing. It was atrocious to cut off someone who depends on you for his survival but in the end, it is the survival of the fittest. He had no other approach. He made the right decision. He survived.

Although it is horrifying to cut the rope that holds somebody else, in Simon’s circumstance it was the right thing to do. He survived and that was all that mattered. His journey down the mountain was difficult enough not taking into account possibly killing his climbing partner. Simon endured unsympathetic weather, ruthless obstacles and cruel decisions like cutting the rope that held Joe. But in the end, it was the correct decision to cut the rope.