Hmm. I don't know. I am glad they're not harming anyone else, but also -- like, I have kids. And if they were to get into this sort of thing, I'd at the least be like "Well, that's STUPID. Why put yourselves in harm's way deliberately like this. Stressing me and mom out. Do something that helps someone else instead."

That’s fair, but there’s a way to say that without bringing “deserving” into it. As you did.

For my part, there’s a big part of me that still is moved by Tennyson: “As tho’ to breathe were life!”

My uncle promised his kid $10k if he did not buy a motorcycle he was planning to buy

Gos bless your uncle. Smart man. Did it work?

It did. The kid went on to spend the $10k on a new motorcycle.

The thing is, they can and do harm others. Not just family and friends when they perish, but rescue workers who risk their own lives to save people who get into trouble. The article talks of 2 people who delivered her supplies, one died, the other has gone to Germany for frostbite treatment - as fellow climbers maybe they don't count in quite the same way, but rescue workers do die or get injured as well.

Rescue workers do their job willingly. No one really forces them to (usual exceptions for North Korea et al. apply here). I know an old emergency doctor who once survived a helicopter crash. He still walks with a limp and still flies missions with a helo, even though he is pushing sixty.

It is a specific sort of mentality on their part and frankly my experience with them is that they neither need nor appreciate any white-knighting for their safety. If they wanted a safe job, they could easily switch to pushing papers around, there is no shortage of such jobs in the modern world.

According to the article, the person who died bringing her supplies was a member of her original expedition group, not an unrelated rescue worker.

TBH daily, about 150 000 humans die, and I don't have the capacity to mourn them all.

That said, as you say, broadcasting that one does not care without even being asked is already an attitude and I wouldn't like to be in any sort of relationship with a person which spontaneously emits such messages.