He read an account of three young
fellows, expert mountain/rock climbers,
who died in an avalanche. The article

profiled all three and their substantial
accomplishments. Along the way, grue-
some stories of the deaths of climbing

friends of the three were told. And then
the author made a short, partial list of
those in the treacherous sport who had

died on this mountain or that — seemed
to go on and on and on, death, death,
death and more death. Almost in every

paragraph, it seemed that death was
mentioned, grief was visited. When the
article ended, the reader looked below the

writer’s name: Filed To: Climbing, Canada
Search and Rescue, Mountaineering,
Athletes, Survival. That’s right, the last

word is survival not death. They didn’t
survive; they died. The word death appears
nowhere in the “Filed to.” It is ubiquitous

in the article. Is such subject matter so
hard to face and name — I guess they just
passed away; were lost; simply went on to

glory to be with their Lord as they write
in the obituaries of the last of the old,
ethnic, evangelical Christians in the

once ethnically dominated town. Why
didn’t they just call it what it was? It
wasn’t survival; it was death —

sudden, tragic death.