Unable to move, lacking water, food and battling delirium, your only choices are cutting off your hand with a blunt utility knife or certain death!
127 Hours shows us how in April 2003, Aron Ralston was forced to make a debilitating decision. Directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and starring James Franco, the movie depicts a mountain climber caught between a rock and a hard place (literally) when a boulder in Bluejohn Canyon, Utah dislodges and pins his right hand.
Now I won’t ruin the whole movie for you. But, unless you’ve been living under a rock (bad pun intended), I’m sure you’ve heard of “that movie where the guy cuts his arm off.” Did you know he lives to tell the tale? In fact he’s become a public speaker, sharing his story worldwide and continuing to mountain climb! Now THAT’S passion!
Either way, I wanted to share some ways he could have avoided this traumatic situation while still being the crazy-adventurer type that he is:
1. Taken someone canyoneering with him
2. Told someone (everyone) where he was going
3. Packed flares or something else to get attention in case
of an emergency
4. Inspected the boulders more carefully to make sure they
wouldn’t budge
5. Looked harder for his Swiss Army knife. Sure he would
still have had to cut his arm off but at least he would
have had a sharper knife
6. Tucked his hands firmly behind his back as he fell
Still, one thing’s for sure, put in his exact position I definitely would have died. I am fairly confident that I don’t have the stomach or the pain-tolerance to do what he did. But I guess in that moment it came down to bravery and a sheer will to live. As the movie shows, Ralston envisioned his future son and the security of that image drove him to find a way. What do you guys think? Could you have been as brave as Ralston? Would you have had what it takes to cut off your own arm?
