July 7: Life's obstacle course
In Cub Scouts, they took us to this camp for one week in the middle
of nowhere. There we learned to use compasses, cooked our own meals over
open fires, learned campfire songs, and watched old Charlie Chaplin
films in the communal lodge.
We also did an obstacle course.
Our leader was a tall grey haired gent with a thundering baritone British accent. He led us to the beginning of the course, which was in the middle of the woods, and set us off in groups of four at two-minute intervals. For the next fifteen minutes I ran, climbed walls, ran some more, jumped through abandoned tires, climbed nets, ran some more, and swung on ropes. I was exhausted at the end. My fellow nine-year-olds and I were lying on the cool earth, panting and begging for water. The scoutmaster stood over us and told us he was proud of us for completing the obstacle course.
“You all finished the race,” he said. “You didn’t let the obstacles deter you. See to it that you live your lives that way too.”
We were nine. Most of us were unabashed idealists, which is a fine thing for a nine-year-old to be. Ask us what we wanted to do when we grew up and we’d have told you we wanted to be hockey players or astronauts or movie stars. Most of us became accountants or journalists or gas station owners. Maybe we could have realized our nine-year-old dreams had we successfully navigated life’s obstacle course.
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I learned about Terry Fox in 1981, which is the same year most Canadians learned about Terry Fox.
Terry Fox wanted to run across Canada so he could raise money for cancer research. He had a big obstacle though – he only had one leg. That didn’t deter him though. After doctors fit him with an artificial leg, he dipped one foot in the Atlantic Ocean and set out on the journey of a lifetime. He faced plenty of osbtacles on his odyssey – blinding snowstorms, mean animals, even sickness. Yes, the cancer returned and there were days when Terry ran even though he was in unbelievable agony. It was only when it became unbearable that he told his handlers it was time to go to the hospital.
Terry Fox never finished his Marathon of Hope but only the world’s most ignorant moron would deign to call him a failure.
-
Probably the biggest obstacle young people face is discouragement. Their peers will laugh at their dreams and it’s not because they don’t think they’ll be successful, it’s because they’re afraid that they will be. Heck when you’re 14 and someone in your class gets a song on the radio or lands a part in a movie or qualifies for some sort of national honour, it makes your own accomplishments look awfully mediocre. In Grade 7, there was this kid who was singled out for being an amazing writer. “One day, I bet you’ll write a New York Times bestseller,” the teacher declared. Later, during lunch hour, his classmates were quick to tell him how bad his story sucked.
Fear, my friends. Fear. The only thing we need to be afraid of.
-
By the way, that kid kept on writing.
That kid was me.
We also did an obstacle course.
Our leader was a tall grey haired gent with a thundering baritone British accent. He led us to the beginning of the course, which was in the middle of the woods, and set us off in groups of four at two-minute intervals. For the next fifteen minutes I ran, climbed walls, ran some more, jumped through abandoned tires, climbed nets, ran some more, and swung on ropes. I was exhausted at the end. My fellow nine-year-olds and I were lying on the cool earth, panting and begging for water. The scoutmaster stood over us and told us he was proud of us for completing the obstacle course.
“You all finished the race,” he said. “You didn’t let the obstacles deter you. See to it that you live your lives that way too.”
We were nine. Most of us were unabashed idealists, which is a fine thing for a nine-year-old to be. Ask us what we wanted to do when we grew up and we’d have told you we wanted to be hockey players or astronauts or movie stars. Most of us became accountants or journalists or gas station owners. Maybe we could have realized our nine-year-old dreams had we successfully navigated life’s obstacle course.
-
I learned about Terry Fox in 1981, which is the same year most Canadians learned about Terry Fox.
Terry Fox wanted to run across Canada so he could raise money for cancer research. He had a big obstacle though – he only had one leg. That didn’t deter him though. After doctors fit him with an artificial leg, he dipped one foot in the Atlantic Ocean and set out on the journey of a lifetime. He faced plenty of osbtacles on his odyssey – blinding snowstorms, mean animals, even sickness. Yes, the cancer returned and there were days when Terry ran even though he was in unbelievable agony. It was only when it became unbearable that he told his handlers it was time to go to the hospital.
Terry Fox never finished his Marathon of Hope but only the world’s most ignorant moron would deign to call him a failure.
-
Probably the biggest obstacle young people face is discouragement. Their peers will laugh at their dreams and it’s not because they don’t think they’ll be successful, it’s because they’re afraid that they will be. Heck when you’re 14 and someone in your class gets a song on the radio or lands a part in a movie or qualifies for some sort of national honour, it makes your own accomplishments look awfully mediocre. In Grade 7, there was this kid who was singled out for being an amazing writer. “One day, I bet you’ll write a New York Times bestseller,” the teacher declared. Later, during lunch hour, his classmates were quick to tell him how bad his story sucked.
Fear, my friends. Fear. The only thing we need to be afraid of.
-
By the way, that kid kept on writing.
That kid was me.
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