Large Fierce Mammal

In maintaining life on the other side of the Thin Veneer, only True Tools, both the hard (technology) and the soft (skills), are carried. Which ones will depend on the environment, the job, the doer of it, alone or in company, and what interval of time and space will inform readiness for “self-rescue”, a now commonly misused term meaning, at its root, getting out of an unfavourable situation absent help from outside sources.

I personally dislike the term “self-rescue” in its current usage because it tends to come bundled with an expectation that life beyond the Thin Veneer is an intrinsically unfavourable situation in itself, to be merely ” survived”, if possible, between one inevitable existential crisis and the next. Something not to be indulged in willingly without the impetus of a mandatory evacuation order.

How about treating every step beyond your dwelling space as the potential start of an unexpected camping trip equipped solely with what’s on your body, in your pockets, and in your head?

Nothing in my own lifetime to date has given the lie to what G. K. Chesterton said adventure and inconvenience:

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” ~ G. K. Chesterton

Obviously the Best of Yourself, being that “perfect in the moment” expression of you whereupon the proverbial rubber meets the equally proverbial road, will occasionally land in dire straits (not to be confused with the band of the same name) that overtake endeavours more or less unexpectedly because, of a certainty, the Dread Prophet Murphy never sleeps. Also obviously, these adventures must be Tooled up for and dealt with as and when they arise, with those Tools that are ready to hand, mind, spirit; and most importantly, with Commitment because a safety net is no True Tool.

“As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You’ll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai’s desperateness and his insanity. Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off the fence and rip it up. Cut yourself off so there is no going back. Once you’re committed the truth will come out. You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion; something that forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder. ‘I never try anything – I just do it. Want to try me?'” ~ Mark F. Twight

You see, a safety net overloads and contains the aspiring Adventurer, Hunter, Trekker, Seeker of Truth, et al, both from the draining struggle of simply dragging its bulk around, and the diversion of resources required to erect it directly and unerringly underneath every worst case misleading vividness can conjure.

“The mantra of ‘safety first’ is the kind of bullshit that, blindly accepted, puts someone else in charge of your safety so you don’t have to own it. So you can be the ‘victim’ who must never be blamed but always believed.

“We teach our children to look both ways before crossing the street, not to avoid crossing streets altogether. Risk management is an industry term that, by its definition, represents a mindset recognizing that even though there are risks to life and limb inherent in an enterprise, they can be identified and if not circumvented, at least limited in scope or effect” ~ Risk: Nothing of Value Happens Without It

Worst cases must naturally be thought through and accommodated in preparations before foot even touches trail and paddle touches water, but with recognition that attitudes and behaviours have a far greater influence on the probability of any given outcome, on a scale from complete success as desired to life ending utter failure, than simply placing (or Gods forbid finding) yourself beyond the Thin Veneer.

A lot to rightly consider, to be sure, and to cool the savage breast Goode Reader, here’s Bob Ross getting through an entire 30 minutes with no Tools but a knife,the skills to use it, and a soothing narration.

Until next time.