How to Get the Universe to Constantly Conspire in Your Favor

In 2000, the king and queen of rock climbing were 21-year-old Tommy Caldwell and 20-year-old Beth Rodden. Tommy had just recently <a href="https://www.mountainzone.com/climbing/2000/highpoints/caldwell_kryptonite.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">completed one of the hardest rock climbs in the country</a>. An equally impressive Beth Rodden had also been the <a href="https://www.climbing.com/videos/beth-rodden-is-back/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">youngest female to complete the hardest grade achieved by a woman at the time</a>. Their youthful faces graced the covers of magazines and to the outside world, they were unstoppable. No one could have anticipated what happened next. In June of that year, Tommy, Beth, 22-year-old Jason Smith, and 25-year-old John Dickey embarked on what was to be an <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/we-tell-it-it/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">adventure of a lifetime</a>. The setting was the 3,000-foot rock walls in remote Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan had recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/30/kyrgyzstan-climbing-hotspot-putin-peak" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">emerged as a hotspot</a> for mountain climbing. Unbeknownst to the four young climbers, it had also become a hotspot for militant terrorist groups like the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/imu.htm" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan</a> (IMU). On Tommy’s 22nd birthday, all four climbers were kidnapped by IMU. While kidnapped, another captor who was with them was murdered, and they were forced to march and hide in difficult terrain. Each day was filled with starvation and freezing temperatures. On the sixth day, Tommy seized the opportunity to kill one of his captors and they found their way to the Kyrgyz army compound and ultimately made it back to the US embassy. <a href="https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-get-the-universe-to-constantly-conspire-in-your-favor-4418144236be">Read More</a>