Tag: Survival skills

Trash or Treasure

With 50% youth unemployment in Spain, front-page news showed dumpster diving photos.

It shouldn’t be. But it is. Life is difficult, says Scott Peck.

And since when was it easy?

For years, I put myself in a selfless orbit which , at times, has done much damage to myself (self-sabotage).

My appetite for risks and adventure, for sacrifice and heroism, got me in a bit of trouble.

In short, I have been addicted to adrenaline. Life on the edge, hanging and dangling on the cliff,  literally, on the last day of  a Wilderness Survival course in the White Mountain of New Hampshire.

Now, seeing men in Spain,  not in white and red bandanas having fun at the running of the bulls (which I would like to be doing, adrenaline and all), but dumpster-diving (which I definitely can’t see myself doing), I prefer being chased by the  bulls than the bears.

Are we in a battle against modernity itself? How come I-phone 5 is in short supply, but workers in Spain are not?

What is the real benefits of globalization and modernization in its present form?

Who dare to pose the real and hard questions and to whom?

Democratizing unemployment?

The rhetoric has been to “flatten” the process of wealth distribution via technology and globalization. But hard data point to a much different conclusion: the  top 1% got richer by the day, and more are joining their ranks.

Go figure!

We will soon reach 9-Billion (2050). Will there be enough energy and food for consumption?

Enough I-phone and whatever comes after “I” for everyone? Malthus revival.

The Third wave of civilization is descending on us so quickly (as described aptly via Moore’s Law) that we can’t handle the truth (agricultural and industrial waves took off not as quickly as the information age’s hockey-stick growth).

I remember discussions in some circles that one day, we would all have a bar code imprinted on our foreheads.

Scan me. Zap me.

Brand me. The Who would have to change their  “See me, Feel me” anthem.

But for now, you can’t seem to get through a day without some guy (even gal) asking for a hand out.

Brother, can you spare a dollar (used to be a dime) “Anh cho xin mot dong” (in multi-language).

Inflation hit everyone, from Seoul to Spain, Singapore to Shanghai.

At least, in collective societies of the East, people can squeeze in around the table (round) for a dip in the rice bowl. The strength of Western individualism (Robinson Crusoe) has finally faced its logical conclusion: I can find food, as long as you help keep the trash bin cool and clean. Why all the post-industrial brains cannot come up with solar-powered refrigeration for the mass, where spare foods can be deposited there for those who are in desperate need (I have seen used clothing bins, but not food).

Combo number 1 or 2? They have always tried to sell you and I more fries than our bodies can take.

Meanwhile, the rain doesn’t stay mainly in Spain. Anyone with fresh eyes can see something is not going according to plan . Your trash, their treasure. Be grateful, but then be outrageous. We need your rage.

Blind in wilderness

Years ago, I took a course in Wilderness Survival.

One of the classmates was a blind Korean guy.  The others all white males.

We were to spend the entire five days in the White Mountain of New Hampshire,

with one solo day. Our “final” was rock repelling.

I kept looking in my teammate’s eyes and wondered how in the world he could survive the course, its obstacles and the rest of his life in urban jungle.

To make a long story short. We all passed eventually, but not without a hitch.

That hitch happened to be me. I repelled down straying from everyone else’s path (of least resistance). My instructor leaned down and gave me personal feedback while I was dangling in mid-air.  This wasn’t  my first time. Later, at an MCI white-water rafting trip, I got bumped out of the inflated raft into the gushing icy-cold Colorado waters. Luckily, my teammates circled the raft and pulled me back in.

Every once in a while, when facing seemingly insurmountable  challenges, I tap into that dormant strength to overcome fear. We all learned about our inner strength from that course, including our blind teammate who said “I see” a lot.

He was an inspiration to us all (at least, he wasn’t afraid of the pitch-dark solo).

People without sight, without limp remind us that fear is an emotion to co-exist with hope.

The fear of losing face is big in societies like Vietnam‘s.

Here it is common that a company employs mostly relatives.

Or vice versa, long-time employees are regarded as families.

Your identity is that of so and so’s cousin, aunt, uncle or nephew.

The  relationship web got more entangled when your ancestors had multiple marriages. Vietnamese language has precise naming for older/younger brothers and sisters (Anh/Em).

And to be on the safe side, just address everyone as if he/she were older.

What does this have to do with wilderness survival?

I am reentering a society built on collective identity.

My atomized self needs some attitude adjustment.

Instinctively, I weighed the way I address people, reading their non-verbal responses.

To survive here, I have to flash back to that “solo”night in the mountain, without light and without human interaction. Just inner noise and inner voice.

In Vietnam, self-mastery is hailed as a core virtue and a corner-stone for leadership (Tu Than, Te Gia, Bnh Quoc, Tri Thien Ha). Super-imposing this on Western leaders today (for instance my Penn State Defense Coach, who decided to go on the offense with young boys), we probably can narrow the field quite a bit.

Every culture has its gem. But if one is blind, it doesn’t matter  wilderness or waterfront, one still can’t see.

I know one thing from that wilderness survival class: my Korean teammate did not judge me by sight e.g the color of my skin or any other outward factors.