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Posted by Bill S on April 28, 2008 at 12:57:05 pm EDT
In reply to People prefer videogames to the outdoors posted by Bill S on February 5, 2008 at 7:48:13 pm EST

Fred -
Your absence meant that your continuing valuable contributions over the past few years were missed.

I am sorry to hear about your father. Lymphoma is brutal, and I hope he can be made comfortable in the last days. Barb and I have lost our parents, her father to an aggressive metastasizing of melanoma in his 80s, her mother to the side effects of a broken hip at 90, my mother to a progressive deterioration at 92, and my father very early at 63 to a heart attack while we were hiking in the Sierra. All of them were into the outdoors and brought us up in the woods and hills. Hang in there.

You are right. As much fun as people seem to have with the online virtual worlds, videogames, TV shows on the big-screen sets, and so on, it just doesn't come close to the real-life experience of the wilderness. Interesting thing I have noted when going to the neighborhood Best Buys and Fry's (Calif electronics superstore chain) is that of the demo videos they show on the big screen TVs, the ones that seem to hold the most fascination for people standing around are Blue Planet and other nature shows (except when the major sporting events are on). Yeah, they show Star Wars and other popular movies, but there is some primal fascination with nature.

I agree with your observation that the friendships and ties forged in the wilderness, especially during the challenges of harsh conditions, are the longest and deepest. Not many people are familiar with Charles Houston's book, the Fellowship of the Rope, even people who are very familiar with his book on high altitude climbing Going Higher. Many of my fondest memories of my father are of times we spent sleeping out under the stars in the desert, in the ponderosa forest in northern Arizona, in the Sierra, and hiking up various mountains.

My thoughts are with you.

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