Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to have conquered Mt. Everest, died today at age 88. In 1953 he conquered the highest mountain on the planet with a Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. I have heard in interviews on NPR that his friends and family will remember him as a loving, humble, and courageous man. If you want to read the BBC story, click here.

I have always been fascinated with the idea of climbing Mt. Everest. Ok, Ok, it has only been with the "idea", but it still fascinates me. I heard a historian talking this morning about how Hillary did it without oxygen, and how they didn't even know back then if it was humanly possible to stand on Everest's peak and breath.

There were numbers of British exploratory teams that attempted to climb Everest, but couldn't navigate the last bit due to the oxygen. With all of the failure of these teams, here comes Sir Edmund and his Sherpa companion, doing what no one else could do. Pretty cool.

I fear that the success of climbing Everest is starting in our day to become "routine". Its much like the space shuttle launch used to be so popular when I was a kid, dominating the news, all the major stations, and all print media, while today you can't even find it on TV. There have been so many people who have climbed Everest now, that it is becoming less impressive to many. In fact, I heard this last year that the first legally blind person climbed Everest.

Oh well, it is still very impressive to me. The courage it took to climb that mountain when so many had tried and failed. The resolve it must have taken to complete what he had started. Not only did he complete this monumental climb, but he dedicated his life to helping the Nepalese, and specifically the Sherpa, people, raising money for economic, medical, and other forms of relief.

So, I will join in and celebrate the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, and pray to God that he will give me the courage to take risks in life just like Edmund.