01-21-2012, 11:34 AM
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#4 |
| Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: upper left corner Posts: 317
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Here's the intro to my survival section of the hunter safety class.
Wilderness survival is kinda like a game of chance, a guessing game, and it starts before you even leave your house.
Ordinarily, we survive on the results of other people's work. Your house - somebody else built it, installed the doors and the roof that keeps the snow off your family and your stuff. Your food, somebody else grew and harvested and packaged it so you could buy and eat it. Your water - somebody else filtered it and piped it to your kitchen sink or toilet. All those things come pretty easy at home, but in the wilderness you have to bring your own.
So we start out by guessing what it's going to be like out there, and start building skills and packing stuff to bring to deal with the conditions. The way you win at wilderness survival is by surviving, and then you come home and tell your friends all about it, and get really excited to go out and play again.
If you choose poorly, and your skills and stuff aren't up to the wilderness conditions, then nature can overcome you. You get weaker and weaker and perish, and then it's game over. Another player gets your stuff, and the game starts again.
Sometimes players cheat and call for help. If you call for help in this county, me and my search and rescue buds will roll out of bed, get dressed, and come try to help you. Sometimes we find you in time. We've got good skills and stuff, and we'll try to solve your problem and get you back to civilization so you can play again, hopefully better next time.
But sometimes cheating doesn't work. We can't fly. and we don't have x-ray vision. Sometimes we can't find you, or nature has damaged you too badly to recover. Then we bring back your lifeless carcass, lay it gently on the ground, and all your friends stand around it in a big circle. They're sad because you didn't make it, and we're sad too because we don't like to lose. Then another player gets your stuff, and the game starts again.
So tonight I'd like to talk about some things you can do to improve your chances of winning. Having the stuff you need is one part, having the skills to use your stuff to solve your problems is the other. What do humans need to survive, anyway?
I go on to discuss different needs and how to prepare for them. I often have parents tell me that their students relate well to the "game" analogy.
Parker
simple man in a complicated world |
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