Penn Soph dies after fall from dorm roof

Parent Cafe
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<p>How can they not see it coming?</p>

<p>The “Duh!!” hall of fame:</p>

<p>People who die while skydiving.
People who die while bungee jumping.
People who die while scuba diving (e.g., the Australian crock hunter)
People who die washing skyscraper windows.
People who crash in small planes (John Denver, Buddy Holly, Walter Reuther, Knute Rockne, Will Rogers, etc.)
People who crash a motorcycle.
People who live on the Gulf Coast and are shocked that a hurricaine is coming.
People who live on a cliff in Southern California and act like they never heard the words “mud” and “slide” in the same sentence.
People who live next to a river and want sympathy when a flood hits.
People who let their kid do a sleepover at Michael Jackson’s.
Guys whose daughters date O.J. Simpson.
Guys who try to cross the Pacific in a hot-air balloon or a rowboat.
Diane Keaton in the Godfather being surprised when Al Pacino turns out to be a mob boss.<br>
People who didn’t see the Madonna/Guy Richie divorce coming.
Those guys in the movies who have a handgun and no holster, and stick the gun in the waistband of their pants…in front.</p>

42

<p>^^^ That may be one of the stupidest posts I’ve seen on this entire forum. Congratulations.</p>

43

<p>stupid and insensitive</p>

44

<p>This person was one of my cousin’s close friends. I am still in a state of shock and sadness. He was one of the most kind and energetic individuals I have ever met. He was the type of person you like and gravitate towards upon initially meeting because of his warmth.</p>

<p>I’m praying for you barrons and TourGuide. May God forgive your cold souls. If ya’ll accomplished half what this kid did at his age, then you wouldn’t be running your mouths. You should both be deeply ashamed of yourselves.</p>

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<p>barrons and tour guide, I will not throw stones at your glass house! That would bring me down to your pathetic level! </p>

<p>To all others, ever notice that the children of the most self rightous people always fall? Be prepared, barrons and tour guide, they can never live up to your perfect expectations and moral codes.</p>

46

<p>Death of a young person or any person is sad no matter the cause or circumstances. </p>

<p>The kinds of reasoning I am reading by tourguide and barrons stuns me. So, if someone dies in a flood, they deserve it because their home was by a river? If someone dies in a small plane crash, they deserve it because there is risk involved? </p>

<p>Well, what if someone dies in a large plane crash? Everything has a risk. </p>

<p>I had a child in a very severe car crash. She luckily survived her injuries and has made a complete recovery. I think there was some human error involved in her crash. She was a new driver and took her eye off the road for a second and it contributed to the crash and her ability to maintain control of the vehicle when it went off course. Does she deserve her injuiries or God forbid, she could have died from scuh an extreme accident (and she did land in intensive care)? Driving is a risk. People die in cars all the time. </p>

<p>Do we never take risks? I have a kid about to travel in a Third World country. There are risks. She has had to take one medicine after another in preparation. </p>

<p>Some things are riskier than other things. Climbing up a building is risky and not advisable. Nonetheless, a death in an accident is very tragic. </p>

<p>Young people, and even older people, take risks. Some risks are not wise choices (i.e., dirivng while intoxicated, bungee jumping) and some are simply part of living (i.e., live in CA, there may be an earthquake; drive a car, you might have an accident). </p>

<p>No matter how someone dies, or the nature of their accident, it is tragic. </p>

<p>I hope nothing ever happens to someone you love and if it does, that your level of grief is not impacted by the nature of their accident. Had my child died as a result of her car accident that most likely was impacted by being a new driver…it would have been no different in terms of grief than had she died of cancer. Either way, she’d be dead.</p>

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<p>Notice I didn’t include flying in a commercial airliner or driving in a car…those are things one has to do in a normal life, and they are relatively safe. I’m talking about people who make conscious choices to go WAY out of their way to do things that are CLEARLY optional and CLEARLY dangerous, for the sheer thrill (bungee jumping, motorcycle riding, etc) or vanity (Southern California cliff house, Gulf Coast beach house, etc.) of it, much like smoking cigarettes. I think you can lead a full life without bungee jumping or motorcycle riding or cigarettes, don’t you? But if you choose to do those things, and die from them, that’s bad news, but not quite tragic. When you say “no matter how someone dies, or the nature of their accident, it is tragic” you simply don’t know the meaning of the word “tragic.” Was it tragic when Tim McVie was executed? Some people here have the attitude that whenever anybody in the world has discomfort for whatever reason, it is a situation that requires their tears and sympathy. A lot of people cause their own problems.</p>

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<p>You are displaying amazing ignorance and immaturity in your posts, and I hope you truly aren’t that way in person.
Many people whose homes (and lives) were destroyed as a result of the Gulf Coast and California storms were low-income people who lived where they did for their jobs. We had people killed here in Tennessee from tornadoes- guess they picked bad places to live, too!</p>

<p>People make mistakes. Are they “conscious choices”"? Yes, but they are also, in many cases, mistakes. I don’t think it takes away at all from a resulting death-especially the death of a young person- being a tragedy. </p>

<p>Since the overwhelming majority viewpoint seems to not only differ from yours, but regards yours as that of a cold, warped person, perhaps you should consider some emotional growth work around this issue.</p>

49

<p>So if someone dies, and you think their death was avoidable, you have no sympathy for their loved ones? They deserved to die? </p>

<p>Also, there are natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and blizzards and there are risks involved in living where these occur. I am about to go out and travel today in this blizzard. I hope we’ll be OK. We have to get D at the airport 50 miles away (IF her flight goes). There is risk involved in our travels. We chose to live where there are bad driving conditions in winter. </p>

<p>Also as MOWC mentioned, some people, particularly young people, make mistakes in judgement. I don’t think that means they deserved to die. What if a young woman is assaulted when walking down a city street at night? Would you have no sympathy for her family? </p>

<p>I pray nothing awful happens to your loved ones. Whether there were risks or mistakes involved, it IS indeed tragic when a young person has died too soon.</p>

50

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<p>But I guess the ones with lung cancer who smoked – those, you don’t feel sad about.</p>

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<p>Young people take risks. Young people do stupid things. (I certainly did my share of them.) They think they’re immortal. It doesn’t make their deaths any less tragic. In fact, I think the death of any young person is tragic, almost by definition. (Sorry, barrons, but to limit the word to the narrow definition used in Greek tragedy is absurd – if you do that, then none of the examples of tragic deaths that you give would actually be tragic either.)</p>

<p>The self-righteousness and sanctimony of some people never ceases to amaze me. At least, when they’re safe behind the anonymity of the Internet. I doubt they’d say any of these things to the faces of this young man’s friends and family.</p>

52

<p>Perhaps, since it seems that Mr. poster who shall remain unnamed (think “woe is me I can’t afford to rub 2 nickels together”) may be currently off on his caribbean vacation, Barrons and Tourguide are just stepping in to play the semi-■■■■■, with stir-the pot, socially insensitive posts??</p>

53

<p>Heh, I was 2 buildings over when it happened. I saw the poor kid laying on the ground and his face covered in blood while cops surrounded him and he was taken into an ambulance. At first I thought, oh well tough cookies, then through some life experiences I learned that people make stupid mistakes for no reason sometimes. Granted, there are consequences to those mistakes, but as dumb as the guy may have been walking on the Quad rooftops, he didn’t deserve to fall off and die (He did fall, for clarification).</p>

54

<p>No, I actually still feel no major sympathy to the kid. For his family, yes–it’s not their fault he chose to do something very dangerous and just dumb.</p>

<p>And for people who get lung cancer from smoking all their lives–not much feeling here. Everyone has known the risks since the 60’s at least.<br>
As to living in somewhat dangerous areas–that’s a little different risk and probably worth taking. For one there are hardly any places that are risk free. Floods storms, tornadoes, cold, heat, hurricanes, earthquakes and you have about 90% of the US covered. Not quite the same as climbing along rooftops for no reason.</p>

<p>Now would I walk up and tell the parents that to their face–of course not. I would do the polite thing that people do. A former co-worker’s 25 YO son just died in a drunk-driving wreck he caused.(tree) No I did not choose the time to lecture him about the hazards of drunk driving. I sent him a nice sympathy card and I meant it. But I still think the son caused his family needless grief and his dad deserved better. He worked very hard to give his family everything.</p>

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<p>IMO, the sport you previously enjoyed, car-racing, is sheer stupidity, no matter how “careful” you are.</p>

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<p>Where does one draw the line?
If I don’t exercise regularly and I die at age 55 of heart disease…do I get no sympathy? After all you health is largely driven by your lifestyle. So all these folks who don’t eat right, excercise get zero sympathy? What if I can’t afford to buy fresh fruits and veggies -and there’s no supermarket in my urban neighborhood…is that my fault too?
The kid years ago who knocked on doors selling cookies and was killed by some sicko who invited him in. No sympathy? Certainly, what he was doing was unsafe.
Cold…yes VERY cold.</p>

57

<p>I am very sorry for the young man and his family. What a waste. I can’t imagine his parents’ pain. </p>

<p>I would characterize some responses as more dispassionate than …heartless/cold … Everyone has a different response to tragedy and the vagaries of life. </p>

<p>Backing out slowly from this thread…</p>

58

<p>Nbody <em>deserves</em> to pay the ultimate price for a mistake in judgement, even a very large mistake. The tragedy is that there are no second chances in this case to learn from a mistake. </p>

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<p>We already know that people who knew this young man are reading this thread. I don’t see the difference.</p>

59

<p>He made a bad choice.
You can withhold sympathy for a premature death based on a single bad choice?</p>

<p>I certainly hope you live in a bomb shelter.</p>

<p>My son’s roommate’s good friend. Evidently, a great kid.</p>

60

<p>I don’t ski because I think it too dangerous. So when I hear of deaths associated with this activity I feel no sympathy for the deceased. (end sarcasm) </p>

<p>**LESSON ONE: Always suspect the motives of those who condemn with assured self-righteousness. **</p>