At the top of the most popular list of CNN’s latest news stories is the Mt. Hood climbers—one whose body was recovered yesterday and two still missing. The death of Kelly James on Mt. Hood has me thinking about risk taking. I’m thinking about other deaths during the last few days. There has been a SID death, someone killed in an alcohol-related accident, several died of malnutrition in Darfur, both civilians and soldiers were killed in war, someone couldn’t handle the turmoil inside for another day and took his/her own life.

I’m not wise enough to know if Kelly James, Brian Hall, and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke were making a mistake when they set out to climb Mt. Hood. But I’m thinking that life without risk is a little bit like potatoes without salt.