Life Lessons on Risk

Mark's snowshoe tracks

I have found that snow shoeing is good for the soul - even if you snowshoe with a  partner.  Mark and I went out shoeing yesterday.  We were out in temps of about 8 degrees, but we were dressed appropriately so we enjoyed our experience.

The tree to the right had lichen growing on it in the snow - the lichen was green and growing in the frigid cold - growing in adversity.

The tracks above were made from a small animal that drug its tail...the track looked like it was made from a mechanical device - perfect - naturally perfect.  The photo below shows a rock in the middle of the roots of a tree, the tree grew around its adversity!

As Mark and I walked through the woods, I realized that I was FOLLOWING him.  I was looking down at his tracks, not looking around enjoying the beauty of the snow, pines, and nature.  I realized that I was watching where I was walking because the woods are full of downed trees causing hazards and I didn't want to fall...without realizing it I was being very "risk-averse" and missing out on the importance of the experience.  I was a risk taker as a youth but on this trek I realized that I had become just like everyone else today.

This nation has gotten so risk-averse that I feel that we don't really LIVE any more.  Parents have become so scared, sometimes due to litigation and sometimes because the media instills fear in us all - fear to let their children be children and play, experience, and really enjoy life.  It's gotten so bad that now sledding has been banned in some northern cities, due to the amount of risk and litigation.  The news showed some videos of teens running their sleds into parked cars and on to sidewalks full of people; the sledders seemed to use poor judgement - maybe because they have spent so much time indoors from the time they were small that they don't make wise decisions outdoors.  I don't think that Houghton will ban sledding here.  I'll tell you why...

Saturday, Mark and I attended the Heikinpaiva (the "p" is pronounced "b").  Hancock, MI hosts an annual midwinter festival, celebrating the feast day of Saint Henrik, patron saint of Finland. Many of the locals are Fins so this is their winter Finnish Festival - photos below.  It was about 12 degrees outside - you would never know by the amount of people outdoors, enjoying the festival.  Check out the video below.

Sir Heikki Lunta, complete with his crown of snowflakes.

As we walked through the outdoor festival, there were three little boys (ages of about 8-12) climbing the trees around the town's children's game area so they could get a better view of the activities (they were having fun climbing too).  One of them went pretty high - no one thought a thing of these kids climbing city trees.  In St. Louis and most other cities, parents would have been pulling them down or at least hovering to make sure they were alright...these three were having fun and being kids!!

Mark and I have noticed that children here are much calmer than children in other cities we've experienced. We see lots of kids everywhere here - many families have 5,6,7, or more children because of their religious beliefs on birth control.  Instead of bunches of wild Indians, they are well behaved and calm.  We can only attribute it to the fact that they go outside, play, and climb trees - they run and play off all their bottled up energy. They and their parents take the risk of them playing outside.

Now to come back to our snow shoeing - as I noticed that I was just following in Mark's footprints, I purposely stopped looking at his tracks and started enjoying nature.  And, as I pulled my hands out of my mittens to take some of the photos, I tripped on a branch, and fell into the snow.  I had to laugh -  my recent thoughts on risk coming back to me.

Since I had my mittens off, my hands got wet and very cold - they were so cold they burned.  I dried them off the best I could, got my mittens back on quickly, and then kept moving my fingers inside my mittens (even though they stung) and a few minutes later they were fine again.  I took a risk, fell, and was fine and better for the experience as I enjoyed more of nature and took some pictures to share with you.

We all need to take risks in life in order to grow, learn, and be better people.  I'm glad I would rather take risks - and deal with the repercussions of those risks - than live a quiet, dull, and risk-averse life    I wish for all of my family and friends to have the strength to take the risks they need to make to have a happier, richer, and learned life. God bless you all.