I've been knee-deep in home renovations and kids' books (sick child) so my own reading has been neglected. When I was in third/fourth grade, twelve-year old Donn Fendler's true account of being lost on Mt Katahdin for 9 days was read outloud to me. The primary memory I had from that reading was that you should never eat berries you aren't sure of and you shouldn't drink water that is still and scummy, no matter how hungry and thirsty you might be. This seems a pretty weak memory considering the amazing adventure of survival this story really examines. This time around, I was reading the book to my third grade son and found myself getting choked up over what this Boy Scout went through all alone in the vast wilderness that still exists today up near Katahdin but that must have been even more wild in 1939. The other thing that I found so touching was how much Fendler relied on his faith in God. That is not something that would have stood out to me as a child, but reading and discussing this with my son who has declared himself a staunch non-believer (no scientific proof) was very interesting. I was practically ready to find a church right then and there, but my son insisted Donn was getting himself out of these horrific situations on his own.
This got me thinking of another survival tale (written for adults): Touching the Void. I saw the excellent movie and then read the book by Joe Simpson. Simpson and his climbing partner are on the snowy face of a mountain in South America when Joe slides down the side of a cliff, breaking his leg in the most horrific way imagineable (seriously, skip this part in the book and plug your ears during the movie). It gets worse, though. His partner thinks he's dead and has to make the agonizing decision to cut the rope and save himself or perish waiting for Joe to pull himself up. Long, amazing story short: partner cuts rope, Simpson rolls his way down the mountain over the course of 10 days and survives to tell his tale. What struck me most about that story, was that Simpson insists that he never turned to God during his ordeal, as most people in dreadful circumstances might. His motivation was to ensure that he would never again spend a night alone in a crevasse, waiting to die.
Donn Fendler, of course, is a twelve year old boy scout from another time and his faith is strong. He believes in Guardian Angels, even. But I will say, his amazing ability to get himself out of the woods of rural maine, off the highest mountain west of the Rockies, ALONE, rivals Joe Simpson's survival.
I wonder what my son will hold with him from this story, but I have already used Donn's mantra. During the night, my son could not catch his breath due to a respiratory infection. I could see the panic in his eyes as he gasped and gasped and I knew I had to calm him down. I simply quoted back to him what we had read that day. Donn says, I learned it in Scouting and it did me a lot of good-maybe even saved my life. Keep your head and you'll come out all right--just keep your head!"
Not a bad mantra in general. I just hope I'm never face to face with a bear on a mountain in Maine, by myself, or rolling my way through snowy caverns with a mangled leg when I'd really have to test the power of positive thought.
I'm three quarters of the way through Ian Rankin's last John Rebus mystery and I may even finish it soon.
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