If the worst had happened, the choices the adults made would have led to it, starting with Utahns going to frickin’Canada and then taking those delicious meals into the woods with no way to protect them.
I took my little guys into the wilderness several times a year when they were growing up, places with bears, cougars, coyotes, rattlesnakes, and you name it, and would never have been able to forgive myself if I hadn’t been able to handle whatever might arise — as something did on one occasion.
I told my wife as a non-negotiable condition before we were married that there was only one order that I would ever give her, and that is if I told her to run, she would obey without argument. The reason is not just one of self-sacrifice, but also of survival. There are situations where total focus is required, and any presence that distracts from that reduces the chances to escape and/or prevail.
They got lucky.
The man in this video should have handed off the papoose, sent her and the kids on, and made sure that if he couldn’t dissuade it, the only person of interest would be him. He was utterly unprepared and incapable of carrying out the most sacred basic duty of a father.
I can imagine no worse hell to have to survive than William Petit’s.