Foolhardiness

So, this is the last day, the 5th day of my 5 days off, a mini-vacation so to speak.  In August I will have 9 days off... in a row.
Yesterday, while I was doing my 30 minutes on the Eliptical, I spent some time thinking about Otto Warmbier.  I feel really bad for that young man.  I feel terrible for his parents, knowing that this is all they have left of their son.  And this whole thing is the result of foolhardiness and bad decisions.  Back when he was first arrested by North Korea I thought he'd been part of a school trip - that was actually not the case, he was traveling alone in Northern China.  While there, he saw an advertisement by a company called "Young Pioneer Tours" for the trip your parents don't want you to take.  He signed up for the tour which was a terrible mistake, a really, really bad decision on his part.  Now I don't know about you, but everything I know about North Korea shrieks loudly, "stay away."  I can't think of one, singly good reason why anyone in their right mind would want to go there.  While in Pyongyang, Otto was arrested.  The North Koreans claim he committed a "crime against the state" by stealing a sign, his parents say he was framed.  Would a young man, foolish enough to take a trip to North Korea, attempt to steal a sign?  Possibly.  Or would the North Koreans try and frame such a young man?  That's also quite possible.  Let's be honest here, Otto would have been a great propaganda tool for the North Koreans.  Their foreign prisoners show up on video feeds on what seems to be a fairly regular basis, and those prisoners are always claiming their treatment is good, and the North Koreans aren't that bad.
The North Koreans say Otto's condition is the result of botulism and sleeping pills.  I did some research: you can die from botulism poisoning.

You can also die from an overdose of sleeping pills.
In his current state he is no longer an asset to the North Koreans, they are cold hearted monsters after all, which is why, I suspect he was sent home.  So, what happened to Otto?  We will never, ever know.  We all make foolish decisions in our lives.  We all have those moments when we look back and say to ourselves "woah, that was stupid."  Foolhardiness should never have such a terrible cost.