Thursday, October 22, 1970
THE CAROLINA JOURNAL
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“The following are personal
commentaries of some of the
participants in UNCC’s Outward
Bound seminar held August
25-September 8. We believe their
experiences deserve to be shared.
The Editors.”
The Outward Bound experience
means many different things to
many different people. But I’d
bet that most of those people
asked themselves during each
death-defying episode of the
course, “What am I doing here?”
They probably consoled
themselves, as I did, by replying,
“It won’t mean anything until I
get back to civilization.”
I look at the Outward Bound
experience as an emphatic
stimulant in my life. It’s the
epoch.
It gave me the opportunity to
test and evaluate myself
objectively without being
interrupted or confused by the
complexities that characterize
society today. Life was simphfied,
but not necessarily easier. It is not
easy for a person to face up to
himself and see his actual
strengths and weaknesses.
Outward Bound creates an
atmosphere where survival and
understandable stress are reaUty.
Through those death-defying
episodes I came face to face with
myself and other human beings. I
don’t think society offers this
kind of opportunity. Society is
full of all kinds of symbols that
people can hide behind and never
really find themselves or let others
see them as they really are.
Outward bound breaks down the
barriers.
I can say that as I was on my
way back to this world I felt
closer to people as human beings
and I felt that all I experience
there would mean nothing if I
didn’t find some way in my life to
express the Outward Bound spirit.
Don Keaton
Outward Bound held many,
meaningful experiences for me,
and there are some that I have not
been able to work through in my
own mind and communicate to
others. However, there are some
that I find I am now able to share
with others.
One of these was the
experience of “solo” in which we
were expected to spend three days
and three niglits by ourself in the
woods on Shortoff Mountain. As
solo began, I felt that I would
enjoy being off in the woods by
myself since as a boy I used to
love to roam the forest back in
my home in Wisconsin. Tlien
around eigliteen or nineteen I got
cauglit up in other tilings and
moved far away from that kind of
experience.
On the rocks that we had
climbed, I felt like a stranger
facing an adversary who was cold
and unkind, but in the woods on
solo A often felt like I belonged
there and although many tilings
were unfamiliar, I still felt that
they were good and that I must
get to know them and feel at
home with them.
While being alone these three
days, I felt that my feelings ran up
and down all their alternatives
from serenity, exhilaration and
peace to boredom, anxiety, and
much restlessness. I found the
nights to be pitch black and
lonely, and I can’t say I ever really
got a good night’s sleep those
three days. It nearly felt like
rebirth to see the sun come up
over the ridge early in the
morning.
We were encouraged to fast on
solo, so I had lunch Tuesday at
noon and did not eat another bite
of food until three days later,
which was Friday. Surprisingly,
the lack of food did not bother
me and I really never experienced
hunger as such; but I did begin to
feel during the last 24 hours that
my body was weak, and that I was
easily fatigued from minimal
movement. I sensed that the
timelessness of the days and
nights and the absence of friends
to share a meal with made the fast
less of a hardship than I felt it
might be.
In one sense, solo provided me'
with a different dimension of the
concept of loneliness. Thoughts
and concerns about the rest of the
people in the group were
important and the stuff that held
up together on the trail brought
meaning to the solitary experience
of those three days.
R.B. Simono
Outward Bound was the most
challenging experience of my life.
It pulled from within me my most
hidden fears and frustrations. It
also taught me that I don’t have
to be afraid of failing, thereby
giving me a freedom to try
anything.
Page 7
We all shared a unique
sensitivity and compassion for one
another. Climbing seemed to be
the most difficult thing for most
of us. 1 found that it's impossible
to give up when hanging on tlie
side of a cliff half way to the top.
No matter how difficult it appears
you must go up because going
down is twice as hard. And upon
reaching the top there’s always
that person at the end of the rope
who understands because your life
was in their hands. As Doug Orr
stated, “you could feel a
heartbeat througlit the rope.”
Brenda Swindle
In my Outward Bound
experience, “little things” came to
mean so much. It was a true joy
to lay down a fifty pound pack
after carrying it for 3 miles. The
sound of a near by stream brouglit
smiles to perspiring faces and
spurned aching feet to walk just a
little bit faster. The smell of hot
tea and a box of raisins made
freeze dried dinners seem like
gourmetmeals.A smile, a wink, the
touch of a hand often renewed
those who had already given up.
A dip in an ice-cold river
washed away memories of the
pain and misery of a 10 mile
uphill hike. The knowledge that
others were sharing identical
feelings made the solitude of a 3
day solo not quite so lonely. The
flames and warmth of a fire made
the dark woods seem almost
friendly. Love and acceptance for
the group reduced fears of failing
to a minimum. The huge feeling
of accomplishment at the end of
the course made the hardships of
the two weeks seem very
worthwhile.
The Outward Bound experience
made me more appreciative of the
“little things”...this appreciation
has carried over into my daily life,
and I feel 1 am a bigger person for
fit.
Susan Johnson
There are many dimensions of
the Outward Bound idea, and to
me they seemed to culminate in
exposing us to the human learning
and growth process in the fullest
sense. Because of the shared
nature of this experience, and the
interrelationships that developed
among our group, I am reminded
once again of the broad
responsibilities entailed in being a
teacher. It was a two weeks I shall
not easily forget. I certainly hope
there is some way we»can translate
this concept into UNCC programs.
Douglas' M. Orr, Jr.