Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Edmund Hillary The Humble Hero

This blog is primarily about science and I plan to keep it that way. But this piece about Edmund Hilary I thought was worth sharing. I listen to National Public Radio a lot and Wednesday is the time for sports journalist Frank Deford to dispense some words of wisdom. He spoke about Edmund Hillary some time back. Deford usually talks about today's super stars, sports culture, steroids in sports and a whole lot of current topics and occasionally on historical figures. In this audio essay he reminisces about the man who stood on top of the world.

In fact, he admitted that he'd felt a little guilty days before when he wasn't sure whether he really wanted his friends, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, to make it to the top first. They had to turn back barely 300 feet short.


"I wasn't very proud of my feelings," Hillary admitted to me, ruefully patting the old cat in his lap.


Two days later, Hillary and his teammate made it, and all things considered, I'd have to say that I think God picked the right guy to first stand so close to heaven on earth.

The entire text is also available but it is much more fun to LISTEN.

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