When I was a kid, I was in sleepaway camp. My mother sent me against my will every summer. Even though i was a city boy, i loved the great outdoors (though I HATED camp). I felt completely at home in the woods. And i had a great sense of direction. I could walk aimlessly for miles in the woods without so much as a compass and never get lost.
One time the counselors decided to take us kids on a hike through the woods. I do not know how long a distance they led us on this hike or how much time we spent walking. But i do recall we pretty much hiked in a mostly straight southernly direction, with our backs to our camp.
Then the counselors decided it was time to head back to camp. Only they couldnt remember how to get back to camp. I was amazed at their stupidity. To me, i already knew how to get back. Just turn around 180 degrees and walk in a straight direction, due north. But i kept my mouth shut at first. The kids and counselors in camp always treated me with derision and disdain. I was normally bullied by both campers and counselors. The counselors that didnt bully me, turned a blind eye to those who did.
I watched as the counselors conferred with each other and debated which direction we should walk next in order to try to get back to camp. They pointed and walked in each and every direction except for the direction we came from. At one point we came upon a paved two way road. One of the counselors asked, “did we cross a road?” (No, we didnt)
Finally i spoke up and pointed in the direction we came from, telling the counselors thats the way back to camp. They didnt exactly listen to me, going into a small debate about which direction to go next. I thought to myself, “the hell with the rest of you. Stay lost in the woods. I’m going back to camp”.
I set about walking back to camp. For whatever reason, without a word, the counselors shrugged their shoulders and started following me and the campers followed them. After a while we came upon some thick brush. One of the counselors audibly complained, “this isn’t the way back to camp!!!”. With my hands I parted the brush which revealed the rear side of one of the many cabins of our camp, effectively silencing that dumb counselor.
I never got so much as a thank you for saving those idiots from being lost in the woods and leading them out.
The counselors never took us campers on another hike again. From then on we were confined to the camp (though without telling anybody, knowing I’d never get permission anyways, I’d take off for my own solitary hikes in the woods).
Thank you! For saving the day back then, and for posting your story today.
It is a gift.
Most do not have it.
I can see why you didn’t like camp too much.
They knew you saved their behinds.
One of the things I learned in aircrew survival school was that people don’t walk in a straight line unless they have a distant object to fixate upon. This is why people in the desert walk in circles unless they have a compass or other device to keep them on course.
That story is a great analogy to what so many of us know how to get out of the woods of socialism, corruption, China bioweapon sickness, media thought manipulation, and much more. No one’s listening to us either.