Survival Week Kickoff!
The evolution of survival is changing. At one time, a child learned how to survive a night or two in the woods alone. Now, they’re taught street smarts. This is largely due to the changing environment (urban sprawl/shrinking wilderness). While these skills are necessary, do they make outdoor skills less valuable? I believe many of them could translate into skills everyone could use no matter where they are.
Survival is different in today’s world, there’s no doubt, but are the skills of our forefathers completely lost to us? Have we come so far that there is no longer a need for them? I hope not. The skills that were once a matter of course are just as applicable today as they were back then. It’s amazing how so many have forgotten that those skills didn’t just allow us to survive, they also built self-confidence, self-reliance and made us accountable for our actions–all of which are waning in today’s world.
We no longer need to rely on ourselves. If we’re hungry, we head to the nearest grocery store/restaurant and satisfy that need. If we’re lost, there are on-board navigation systems, maps or road signs that will point us in the right direction…and when all else fails, we stop and ask for directions. If we’re cold, we turn up the furnace. Too hot? Turn on the AC. What’d we do if we’re thirsty? Turn on the tap or drop a couple of coins in a slot and that need is instantly satisfied.
Maybe it’s time the educational systems started looking to the past instead of looking to the future to solve some of the issues we see repeatedly popping up.
I’m officially dubbing this Survival Week, and for the rest of the week my posts will focus on how the skills of hunting translate into real-world survival, and I’ll be taking a look at ideas and courses to teach these skills in today’s educational systems.
Hunting, survival, education, life skills
May 15th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Good idea! We have grown soft as a Country!