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Last night I played a game I play with
myself all the time. It was late and I was rolling the
garbage cans out to the road. The night before it had
snowed about an inch, and all day it had
rained/sleeted. Now it was snowing again, half sleet,
very wet. The wind was blowing, gusting to 20 mph. The
outside temp was in the mid twenties and falling. As I
walked to the street, I asked myself the question I
consider near in importance to the Sacred Question. I
asked, if I were to walk into the woods right now, throw
myself into a survival situation with just what I am
wearing, what would I do? Are my skills good enough to
survive the night?
I made a very realistic assessment of
the situation. The news was not good. I had a folding
knife, a piece of jute and two lighters. I knew where
the thick debris was, and in the dark could make a
shelter that would probably keep me alive (cold wet and
miserable no doubt, but alive). The wind kicked up
early this morning, and the rain/sleet/snow stopped.
However, in spite of the literally hundreds and hundreds
of fires I have built in my life, I knew that
realistically, getting anything to burn, even with a
lighter would be the challenge of my life. I started
thinking about where I would find anything dry enough to
burn. Fortunately, I had about two feet of jute in my
pocket left over from an earlier bow drill
demonstration. But even with dry tinder, and a lighter,
I know that in these conditions, just getting fire will
be very very difficult. If I had to add finding the
wood and carving a bow drill set, well, I know how long
it would take me. I hope I could stay warm long enough.
So I stood there in the street, and role
played for about ten minutes. Even wearing my King of
the Mountain coat, by the time I turned back towards the
house, I was chilled. I paused again and gave thanks
that I was NOT being forced into a survival situation
right now. The warmth of the wood stove and other such
niceties made me very grateful for the relative peace
and prosperity I enjoy.
Survival in a group is much easier than
alone, provided you have a functional team. But nothing
stresses a team more than being out of your element,
your comfort zone. The only solution to this is
experience. I say over and over that Scout class and
actually many of the advanced classes are as much about
the dynamics of the team as they are about the content
of the class. BOTH ARE VITAL!!! |
