Anthony Week #13: Intruder Alert
As a Boy Scout, I’ve spent countless days hiking through the woods and nights sleeping under the stars. During those adventures, I was always aware that I was intruding on the native creatures of the land—the animals—but there was a veil of ignorance, a belief that I would never really encounter any danger.
That is, until one fateful summer night when that veil was torn apart and utterly trampled.
I had been on a two-day hike in the mountains surrounding Sterling Lake. At the time, I was around 14 years old and was a junior camp counselor responsible for a small group of 12-13-year-olds. The day had been relatively uneventful, with an endless stream of “Are we there yet?” from the campers and the constant nagging of a possible sunburn creeping up on my neck. After hiking for hours, we finally arrived at the campsite and began setting up for the night.
The following morning, it was tradition for each junior counselor’s group of campers to perform a camp song to wake everyone up. For my group, they decided on a classic: There Was a Bear.
As the song began and all the campers started groggily crawling out of their tarp tents, the adult counselors pulled me and the other junior counselors aside. They informed us that a bear had actually passed through our camp the night before. The counselors told us not to alarm the campers but to make sure we thoroughly cleaned the campsite of any food items. I was stunned. The spot where I had set up camp last night, alongside one of my good friends, was in the area where the bear had supposedly passed through.Approximate location of my campsite.
The worst part? I had been too lazy that night to pitch a tent. Instead, my fellow counselor and I had decided to simply lay down a tarp and let the stars and the open sky serenade us with their twinkling lullaby.
As the chorus of There Was a Bear repeated annoyingly in the background, I realized just how close of a call it had truly been.
Hello Anthony! First of all, I will preface this with how while everyone else interpreted the topic to be talking about some aspect of memory in general, you decided to talk about a specific memory of yours. I really enjoyed this brief story of yours. It was quite intriguing in and of itself but also contained a critical lesson, that of losing your childhood veil of invincibility. I can understand how this would be such an important memory for you, and it can potentially serve as a turning point in your life. I am pretty sure everyone experiences many of such moments, where some event or exigence causes their worldview to shift, and for them to have some sort of realization. I think this was surely an interesting read, and I hope to read more from you in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Anthony! I think we were exact opposites as kids. I used to be super paranoid, and was always scared that my house would get broken into or something would happen. I used to read the airplane safety manuals before every flight, even though I had pretty much memorized them. Any time I heard any sound in the house at night, I’d make my parents wake up and check it out. You were really brave for being willing to sleep out in the open at night; I’d be scared in my bed!
ReplyDeleteIn a broader scope, I feel like our memories are reminders of the lessons we learned. I think you learned that day that you weren’t completely invincible, and that something can genuinely happen to you. These memories are important, since they allow us to change the way we think and make better choices while having something to substantiate that. Maybe it’s a good thing you had such a close call, before something actually happened and got you hurt. Memories let us learn and change the way we think, whether it’s small things like writing better essays or serious topics.
Hi Anthony. I like the fact that you sorta had a near death experience with a bear. I don’t know why, but I find that cool. I also like the fact that you were too lazy to set up your tent, as a fellow camper, I fully understand the feeling of not wanting to put up a tent. The only thing I hate about camping is putting up your tent and taking it back down. But I never thought of a bear could just walk into your campsite and do who knows what. I only had a couple of near death experiences, and they have stuck with me forever, and I cannot forget them, no matter how hard I try, so I believe that this memory will also live forever in your head.
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