Larry L:
I often fail to fish a stretch, for instance, because I'm aware of my weak
wading and weaker
knees and simply am scared. Or, I quit climbing, years ago, for the
simple
reason I was too damn scared to do it anymore after a bad fall.

These are common factors that I guess go along with aging and the
recognition that durability is almost as much a myth as invincibility.

I've spent lots of time hiking, camping, climging, skiing,fishing, and
hunting alone. Much of it, I admit, kept me out of the house during a bad
first marriage. But the fear of injury when alone was always there. And in
those days, I would rather have died outdoors doing some higher risk
activity than in the house. The contest was never with companions or others
who had been there before me. It was always with myself, pushing to make
one more goal or one

Fear of injury is always present in humans with normal make up. In combat,
I was far less afraid of death than of injury. I've known quite a few
bona-fide combat heroes who have told me that they felt the same way. The
guys who claimed to have not experienced fear were either mentally ill or
never there to begin with.

Here, wading the flats, it has become much easier to limit the depth to
which I wade. I'd rather not be a statistic and I'd be very embarrased to
admit to dropping and reel to recover from stupidly stepping into a rip or
race.

So if the canyon walls are too sheer and the rock too brittle, the water too
deep and/or fast, I take some comfort in the fact that when younger I dared
such things, but even more in the fact that today I no longer feel the need
to push myself to dare them and still enjoy the trip out.


----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar
Save a cow, eat a PETA

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm