Adventure Tip: Trees

While going city hiking 2 weekends ago, I was leaving the downtown square.  Passing a tree with many branches, I leapt into the air, wrapped my legs around a branch, and flipped upside down like spider man.  It was like a mild yet exhilarating Disney World ride.  After about 4 seconds, I let go and continued walking.

On another adventure, in a bigger tree, I spent about an hour lying in the branches.  It wasn’t a hammock, but it offered a hammock level of relaxation and security. 

Trees are here.  They’re home for some animals and likely served survival purposes for humans in the past.  Now, in most cases, they can serve as fun.  Find them and climb them, or if that doesn’t work, sit under them.  Do what you want.

Maybe it is a childish thing to climb trees.  Maybe that makes it a smart choice. 

What do you think?  Share your thoughts in the comments section.   

Undiscovered Gems

I didn't know caves were even a choice within 2 hours of my house.
 

Every place might have beauty and worth if we pay attention.  If we become close to a city, town, or patch of woods, we might learn of it’s hidden beauty. 

I posted about city hiking earlier here.  Even when I drive in my city, I look at the sidewalks and side streets differently.  I’ve walked them. 

What is a secret, beautiful, interesting, horrifying, etc. location in the place you live?  Post your experiences in the comments section.

More interesting experiences shared means more folks will have them.  

If the Good Guys Won Would They be Happy?

Is this cat a good cat or bad cat?

In high school and all the way to college, I remember being spurred on by the adage, “Good guys finish last.”  Feeling represented by that statement, I felt a continual support for the underdog, “good guys.”

Who are the good guys?  In high school, it seemed the good guys were matched in stark contrast to the bad guys.  Perhaps we could juxtapose two images: one of the squeaky clean, uber-respectful nice guy and the arrogant, perhaps selfish bad guy. 

The epithet, “Good guys finish last” seemed based around the idea that girls appreciated the arrogance or confidence of bad guys more than the respect or kindness of good guys.  Regardless of whether this philosophy actually matches reality, one might look closer at the phrase itself. 

“Good guys finish last.”  Taking the sentence directly at face value, I sense anger rising from the speaker.  The narrator is not happy about being a nice guy; rather, there seems to be resentment in the tone.  It’s not working.  He doesn’t say, “Nice guys have to wait longer for pizza delivery” or “Nice guys can't watch Saturday morning cartoons.”  The emphasis rests on “last” with a feeling of frustrated finality.  He lost.  Maybe he’s the hero in an unfair world where he can’t get what he wants: the girl, the job, whatever. 

Problem is, life isn’t fair, and we frequently don’t get what we want whether our personal stories suggest we should have gotten it or not.  Do we have to look at the whole show of life as us losing?  Events happen and our personal strategies for happiness sometimes work and sometimes don’t. 

All humans are complicated.  Life might not be so simple as nice guys and bad guys, nice girls and bad girls, nice cats and bad cats.  Conversely, life is simple: we’re all trying to make it, to survive. 

The mentality involved in “nice guys finish last” appears born from anger at circumstances not fitting our personal desires.  This point of view ignores how alike we all are and how we all want to be happy.

Is a bad guy a bad guy in his own mind?

If all the good guys won would they still be good guys?  Better yet, would they be happy?

What do you think?  Share your thoughts in the comments.  

You Just Have to Get Out the Door

What stops you from "crossing?"

A couple of weeks ago, one of my best friends and I opened the front door and started walking.  We had no goal and no car.  I wore combat boots I bought from Goodwill a couple of years ago and had a backpack full of oranges and apples.  My phone was my camera.   

The city I live in was not designed for pedestrian traffic.  In the past, I’ve talked (read: complained) at length about how much better a job Europe and bigger cities in America do of accommodating walkers.  But ultimately that’s an excuse. 

Many adventures happen when city hiking, because you have to find ways around the lack of sidewalks or crosswalks.  It’s an athletic event in and of itself to sprint across 2 lanes of traffic.  Having survived, giddy laughter typically follows such a trek.     

City hiking means viewing a world you’ve lived in but never seen.  Unable to take the quick, easy roads home, one must make loops.  Entering this new path might bring interesting sights one has never seen despite living in a city for years.

We encountered old cemeteries, statues, power lines, interesting graffiti, and puddles.  All of this photography was taken by Logan.  These photos and more can be found here.  

City hiking is not rebelling against the car world, that would entail being angry about not having pedestrian walkways and sitting at home probably watching t.v. or playing a videogame.  Hiking through a city is a way of embracing and accepting it for what it is rather than what it’s not. 

Other than time, apples, oranges, and possible cartilage in our knees, this trip did not cost. Maybe even these resources are not available to everyone.  If they are in any capacity, I would recommend trying this to the degree that works for you.  It was fun, and required one thing:  a willingness to walk out the door.

Do you have a similar adventure or a totally different one to share?  Post it in the comments!

You Killed My Anger, Prepare to Die

"Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory."


---Sun Tzu


Early in life, I loved the movie, The Princess Bride.  Whereas most movies featured grownups doing grownup things, this one began with a child’s experience.  I think I appreciated that as a five year old. 

My favorite part of the movie has not changed.  If you’ve never seen the movie, don’t read further. 

When Inigo Montoya finally faces the man who killed his father, he quickly loses the fight.  Overcome by emotion, he chases the seven-fingered man down a hallway and is surprised.  This clip begins at that moment. 

 How does Inigo defeat the seven-fingered man?  He does not catch him off guard, he’s standing right in front of him.  He doesn’t use superior technique, he’s stabbed twice before deflecting any shot. 

His defeat has given him time to pause.  No longer pressured by a personal promise to avenge his father, he’s now fighting for different reasons. 

Perhaps his initial motivation was selfish.  Forever haunted by his father’s death, he felt killing the seven-fingered man would bring him validation.  His need for this peace drove him to act foolishly: it brought him a knife in the belly.   

Now, he cannot cling to his rage because he has bigger problems.  Rather than fighting for vengeance, he now fights for his life.   

Having let go of the storyline of revenge, he now says the same sentence he’s practiced his whole life:  “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”  The phrase, originally intended as a triumphant message delivered in revenge now becomes an anchor keeping him alive.  With each repeat, Inigo defeats the seven-fingered man. 

He didn’t use an elaborate strategy or suddenly become incredibly strong.  No one entered to save him. 

Alone and facing the end, Inigo Montoya paid attention.  And he walked out alive.      

What do you think?  Post your ideas in the comments section.