December 8, 2006
Godspeed, James Kim
This is not a post we're happy to be writing, and probably not a post you're happy to be reading either.
As everyone knows by now, the autopsy of James Kim was inconclusive about the time he died, and honestly, that's probably not something that we as members of the public need to know about anyways. And the mainstream media has done an admirable job (Rick Sanchez aside) of summarizing the tragic errors the family made along the way: missing the main highway, taking a wrong turn, walking off the road, missing the cabin stocked with food, slipping in the creek -- but really, we don't want to read about that anymore either.
The family's stores, Doe and Church Street Apothecary, are closed for the next few days, with a note posted on the Church Street Apothecary door and on the websites asking everyone to please respect their privacy. We're going to honor their request.
AP photo outside Doe by Ben Margot.
We feel obligated to add these links here, but we don't plan on reading any of these posts ever again ourselves.
--The Kim Family Story
--James Kim Found Dead
--Day 11 of the Kim Family Search
--Still Looking For James Kim
--Kati Kim and Daughters Found, James Kim Still Missing
--Update On The Kim Family
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I work for CNET, and it's been strange to watch the way this has evolved from a company-wide email last Thursday telling us that James and his family were missing, all the way to seeing the Kim family on the cover of People last night at the Safeway, and then hearing about it on the national NPR feed about an hour later. I don't work in the same group as James did, but James was very popular and it's something that has affected the company as a whole quite strongly - grief counsellors have been brought in, and you can hear conversations that begin with "how are you doing" throughout the hallways. What makes this particularly tragic is that James was a smart guy who thought he had reasoned out the best way to remedy the situation, and instead succumbed to the elements. That he and his family are also regarded as almost iconic representations of New Economy San Francisco has given his death a resonance for many people who live in what is really a very small town.
Wow -- CNETter, I'm so sorry for you and everyone else at the company. CNET did such a great job mobilizing the community and keeping everyone informed -- best wishes to everyone there.
Regarding the media's "admirable job", can anyone point me to any instances of either the MSM or bloggers offering valuable survival advice (contrary example/advertisement available at gizmodo) or dealing with this from the perspective of those who are familiar with hiking (contrary examples available from Larry King et al)? The media has not helped other people avoid similar situations in the future; instead, they've encouraged people to be as helpless as possible.
Yes I agree with you, this terrible tragedy does not need to be published in such a massive way, like it was done in the main stream media. I think Kim's family does have a right for privacy and respect.
Thank you for sharing this story with me !
I don't know how this was reported across a wide spectrum of MSM outlets, but the SF Chronicle published just this kind of article on Dec 5th.
First off, I want to say that I have very few people whom I view as 'heroes', but the Kims strike me as very heroic for their combination of determination and smart thinking under extraordinary stress.
But I do want to explain why things like James' time of death are important. In rock climbing and mountaineering, just about every accident with a serious injury or death is documented, analyzed and published so that the community can learn and hopefully avoid making the same mistake. The situation that the Kims found themselves in could happen to anyone, and it would be useful to know as much as possible about both what they did right and what they did wrong, and why. It's admittedly a bit morbid, but it really could help people in the future.