Climber's survival offers 'story of Christian hope'
6/5/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. A UMNS Feature By Marta W. Aldrich*
By Marta W. Aldrich*
During five days with his right arm pinned under an
800-pound boulder, Aron Ralston pondered options that included dying in a
remote desert canyon in Utah, his body perhaps one day washed away by a
flash flood and his family and friends never knowing his fate.
A
former mechanical engineer for Intel, the extreme outdoorsman analyzed
his dilemma, took stock of resources and likely outcomes, and then made
his decision.
He chose life.
The 27-year-old from Aspen,
Colo., began sawing off his crushed arm with a dull pocketknife on the
morning of April 29. Freed two days later, his arm stump wrapped in a
plastic bag and stuffed into a small canvas backpack, he rappelled
one-armed down a 60-foot rock face and hiked six miles until
encountering a search helicopter.
Recovering since at his
parents' home in the Denver suburb of Centennial, Ralston has been
surrounded by family and friends, especially members of his old high
school youth group at Hope United Methodist Church in Greenwood Village.
His life has been filled with medical appointments, media requests,
physical pain and the reality of his new challenges of life with a
prosthesis. But it also has been filled with Christian fellowship,
prayer, study and the blessings of a life renewed.
"Aron's story
is a story of Christian hope," says the Rev. Margaret Rush Hankins,
co-pastor of Hope Church. Ralston grew up, was confirmed and played
piano for youth-led worship services in the United Methodist
congregation.
"If we are willing to work with the Spirit, there
are options we don't see at first; there are open doors that may not be
visible at first glance."
Trapped in the serpentine crevasses of
Bluejohn Canyon, knowing the odds of a rescue were miniscule, Ralston
could have given up or given way to despair, Hankins says. But instead,
"he really chose life. … He decided he really wanted to live."
That
decision, made amid unexpected calamity, is the overwhelming faith
lesson that has inspired hundreds of people to write Ralston and
describe how his story has inspired them "to take a new look or consider
a new approach" to their own personal tragedies, according to Donna
Ralston, Aron's mother.
The letters have been "very encouraging
to him, and (it's) very rewarding to hear people talk about the ways his
… drive to survive has helped other people evaluate maybe an
unfortunate situation in their own life that maybe wasn't so bad after
all," she says.
Mrs. Ralston describes her son's decision to sever his arm as "rational thinking, survival."
"I'm
not sure many of us would not have reacted in the same way if it was a
matter of life and death," she says. "Aron has said he was at peace with
the idea of dying. But on the other hand, he had a very strong will to
live because there were so many things he wanted to do he hadn't done
yet."
Some may describe Ralston as a classic overachiever. As a
child, "he always wanted to be on the highest part of the monkey bars,
the highest part of the swing set, the fastest, the first one finished,"
his mother recalls.
As a youth, that drive didn't change. He was
academically, athletically and artistically gifted and became an
accomplished pianist. "He's always been incredibly strong, whether in
high school in weight training or climbing a 14,000-foot peak. He's
always been quicker, faster and stronger than everybody else," says Jon
Heinrich, who graduated with Ralston in 1993 from Cherry Creek High
School and remains one of his closest buddies.
Friends also
describe Ralston as a person of great humor and spiritual depth,
building a loyal network of friends along the way, particularly from his
church youth group. "Aron's always been on a faith journey," says Annie
Rigo, a third-year seminary student. "He's always had that spiritual
component, whether playing piano in the church sanctuary when no one was
around, or on a camping trip and we'd start talking about God in our
lives."
Ralston went on to become a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, with bachelor's degrees in
mechanical engineering and French, plus a minor in music. He worked five
years for Intel before deciding to sell off most of his material
possessions and pursue his passion in life - mountaineering. Most
recently, he worked at an outdoors shop and as a mountaineering guide
and nature photographer's apprentice. He loved to attend concerts. And
he devoted himself to hiking, climbing, canyoneering, biking, rafting
and other extreme sports. The ill-fated trip to Utah was intended as
training for a ski descent later this year of Denali, the highest
mountain in North America.
"He's probably the most driven person
I've ever met," Heinrich says. "I think that comes from his connection
with his spiritual self."
Since his accident, Ralston has
declined most interview requests, concentrating instead on his own
physical and emotional healing. He attended his sister's college
graduation and has undergone several medical procedures in preparation
for a prosthesis, for which he is expected to be fitted in late June. He
also has been visiting with his many friends.
"Aron is
definitely a person who wants to move on. But he will be processing this
experience spiritually and emotionally for a long time," says Rigo, 24.
"His physical pain has been overwhelming, but that hasn't stopped him."
The
Rev. Steve Miller, the other co-pastor of Hope, says being raised in
the church has given Ralston a good foundation. "He's a very
clear-thinking man of faith and not bashful about talking about the
presences that were with him in the canyon those days. He knew his
friends were praying for him and actively searching for him. He felt in
touch with his mother. He felt tuned in to the Spirit," Miller says.
As
the hoopla dies down and reality sets in, Ralston has been overcome
with thankfulness, according to his mother. "He has had a very unusual
opportunity to evaluate his life, what he has accomplished and where he
wants to go. Friendships and developing relationships have become more
important than ever," she says.
Miller says gratitude was also an
overwhelming emotion during Ralston's entrapment. "He told me as he was
hanging there with his arm caught, he was remembering all the wonderful
experiences he's had. He was thankful for his friends, for the
different hikes he's taken, the different concerts he's attended, for
his life. He began to think that life can be filled with more of these
blessings. I think that was where the real drive to live kicked in,"
Miller says.
Ralston talks about using his experience to help
others. Heinrich envisions his friend working someday as a spiritual
counselor at an outdoors camp. Mrs. Ralston says her son aims to become
so adept at using a prosthetic device that his lifestyle doesn't have to
change.
Whatever path he chooses, Ralston has said it will
include returning to the mountains and canyons of the Rockies. In 1998,
he set a personal goal of climbing all 59 Colorado "fourteeners" -
summits of 14,000 feet or higher - solo in the winter months, without
avalanche beacons, radio or shovel. To date, he has climbed 45.
Ralston will definitely climb the other 14, Heinrich says. "He will most certainly be back."
# # #
*Aldrich is a free-lance writer in Nashville, Tenn.
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