Genuinely Human

News stories don't usually tug at my heart. I've been watching local news since I was a baby, staying up late to watch my dad read the eleven o'clock news. I've grown up as part of the "And now this..." generation, where my eyes and ears flip through stories about a murder in Queens, a new vaccine, and a high school spelling bee winner with the same level of interest and detachment. Even the big stories rarely catch my eye for very long--the Jon Benets and Scott Petersens.

But for some reason, the James Kim story has struck a bit of a chord. I found myself tearing up the first time I read about the missing family. It was so mundane, so ordinary. Getting lost on a family road trip is something that could happen to anyone of us. And there was the techy aspect. I read Wired and visit CNET just about every day. I've watched his videos. I've read his articles. He genuinely seemed like a cool guy. Like a sweet guy. Like someone I'd want to be friends with.

"It's such a sad story," I told my friend in an IM the other night.

"Yeah, but they already found the wife and kids," he replied. "He's not dead, he's just lost. They'll find him soon."

"You're right," I replied.

And I really believed it too. Of course they would find him soon. He was just lost. It's 2006, you can't really get "lost" in 2006, I thought. They'd use whatever gadgets and radars and helicopters and other things they have and they would find him.

And they did find him. But it was too late.

Tonight, as I read the stories and saw the pictures of him playing with his daughters and excitedly fiddling with gadgets, I suddenly realized that I was crying.

The irony of it struck me hard. Here was a man who loved technology. Who was excited by and believed in the power of it. But at the end of his life, it was just him, stripped of all gadgets, able to rely on nothing but his own strength and will, fighting a losing battle against nature in a desperate attempt to save the family that he loved. They say that the fact that he was able to travel so far under such difficult conditions is unbelievable. Some of the articles even describe his efforts as "superhuman." But I disagree. I think that if anything, his strength was incredibly, truly, and genuinely human.

Update: I saw that Applebox posted a beautiful post about this story this morning. Do check it out.