About teenage decision making. I’ve heard more than one person say “I’m surprised that I’m still alive” when reflecting on their teenage years and that got me to thinking; thinking about making mostly good decisions but interspersing poorly considered ones as well.
At seventeen, I drove Roger Lawson and me to Yosemite National Park. It was Spring. We camped for the weekend and drove home. Simple, right? It was, however, a little more eventful than that. On a warm Saturday morning, wearing cutoffs, looking at an island in the river, it seemed like a good idea to go in the water and swim to that spot. I was a good swimmer. It wasn’t a difficult decision. So in we went, and were immediately swept away by the frigid swift water. I made the island, but only just. I landed on the final downstream point. As I got out of the water though, Roger went by, unable to make it. We didn’t have a plan for what to do if we didn’t make the island, but whatever was going to happen to Roger, it wasn’t going to happen to him alone. I went back in behind him.
In the center of the high country current, we went cold pretty fast. There seemed to be opportunities to swim to shore but nothing worked. The current was too strong. Our best efforts left us still in the center of the current. One more bend, I expended the last bit of strength I had in the cold water as my arms went numb. I gave it my all, but to no avail. No strength. Nothing left. I was done. I knew I was done.
But soon after I had accepted my fate, the river bent the other way, cast me out of the current, and gently deposited me right up on a sandy beach. Roger arrived on the same shore about fifty yards downstream. We took the time we needed to recover then headed off for our next adventure.
I’m surprised I’m still alive. Why did we survive? Dumb luck. Teenager survival: sporadic bouts of dumb decision-making and dumb luck.