TV Series Review: I Shouldn't Be Alive

A while back I was flipping through the channels on TV and came across "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on the Discovery Channel. I immediately began saying "what an idiot," or "why don't you just...," or "if I was there I would do A, B, and C." It's a lot easier to see the perfect solution of a problem when you are on the outside looking in, but it would be very beneficial to have the skills to get an outside perspective when you are actually in the thick of a hairy situation.

I'm going to attempt to break down one of those less-than-wise casualties as well as that of a survivor, and then give examples for what the human body is really capable of when put in an impossible situation.

Bad example: Lost in the Snow
A husband and wife leave in a hurry to get to a funeral for the husbands relative who lives two states away. They leave California and head towards Idaho, only to have their route cut off by a severe blizzard. Finding out that the Inter-State had been closed, they decide to purchase a road atlas and attempt to cross Nevada on a different road (mistake #1: if a major highway/freeway has been closed due to weather, most likely a smaller road will be worse off - snow plows are going to do everything they can to keep the inter-state open, not some small road out in the middle of nowhere). They run into the same storm they were trying to avoid, are unsure which road they are driving on (mistake #2),  and eventually get stuck in the snow. They stay in the truck overnight (good), then wrap themselves up the best they can and zip the baby up in a garment bag to drag him in behind them as they hike on the road in the same direction they were headed (mistake #3 and #4, why wouldn't they either stay put, or hike in the opposite direction they came since, obviously, plows rarely go down the road, meaning they are not headed TOWARD civilization, but AWAY from it...).
End of the story - they hike aimlessly around the frozen desert until he decides to leave the wife and baby in a cave while he hikes back toward the truck. When he gets to the truck it doesn't start (of course) so he hikes in the OPPOSITE direction they were originally headed, flags down a truck, and they are all saved.

Good example : Solo Hiker Drags Himself 15 Miles
I wasn't able to find the title of this story, but it is too good not to use as my positive example.
A man who is used to navigating and solo hiking goes on a long hike during the wintertime, and is swept away by an avalanche. He survives, but not without the violence of the avalanche first breaking his hip. He is alone, has little, if any, food, and is far out enough in the countryside that he has no chance of someone coming across him. He spends three days battling his fears of wolves he can hear in the distance, sub-zero temperatures throughout the whole ordeal,  and only his will to survive. He CRAWLS 15 (I can't remember the exact number) miles in the snow, all while his hip is on fire with pain. He eventually comes across the road he was intentionally crawling towards and finds a stick to use as a crutch: although it only makes it barely possible for him to move, and relieves none of the pain.
He spoke a lot of the "will to live," and that this is the only thing which kept him alive. He said that he wanted to give up hundreds of times, but refused to let his body stop moving.

The TV series, itself, is not that impressive. It appears that they didn't have much of a budget to work with, and the acting is pretty unimpressive for the most part. The message in each episode, and which makes the series worth watching, is very clear - if you want to live bad enough, than you will; if you lose your desire to fight for your life, than you will most likely lose it. Every person who gives in to their despair ends up dying in the end. The human body is capable of much more than we really understand, but without the skills to keep a positive mindset there is no chance of tapping into that power of the will to survive.

I would highly recommend this series to anyone who has an interest in wilderness survival. There are scenario's which take place in the desert, in the frozen tundra, on the ocean, and in pretty much every situation you can imagine. This series would be perfect for a Survival 101 class. If only such a class was offered at my University...