Of Birches and Rocks.

Tom Brown and his friend Rick, as children, loved to swing from birches. Their trunks and branches were long and strong and would bend under their weight.

One time Rick misjudged and was left hanging ten feet from the ground. “Jump, Rick!” I called and laughed. 

“No, too far!” He screamed. 

Stalking Wolf looked amused, but motioned me to climb the tree and help with my weight. I climbed farther on the trunk than I should have, and it broke. We both landed with a thud. I sprained my wrist. Rick hurt his pride. We both laughed. 

“You must always judge how far to go. Now you have ruined the birch” (p.83, Brown Jr., Tom. The Search. New York: Prentice Hall, 1980.).

You must always judge how far to go. Through experience and learning a man is someone who has learned how far to go before he damages others or his environment. This story is an excellent example. As youth, we often know no bounds. We play adventurously sometimes at the cost of others and our surroundings.

When I was probably around 12, I once went hiking with some friends. We rested at one point on the top of a small cliff. The cliff was made of cracked and loose stones. The cracks shaped the stones into sorts of spires. We discovered, to our delight, that if we pushed together with all out strength, we could knock these spires over and send the rocks crashing to the ground in great roars and bangs. We lost track of time as we fought to knock over spire after spire. It was great fun and great exercise. Finally, we continued on our hike leaving the cliff not so majestic, and the base strewn with broken rocks and battered vegetation.

I feel that we must forgive the innocence of youth. I’m not trying to excuse myself by saying that, but just as Tom recounts in his story: youth tend to not judge how far to go. I look back now and feel remorse for having destroyed in meaningless fun a beautiful creation of nature. But this is one of the growing and learning experiences that have taught me to step back and destroy less. There are limits.

A true man learns that just because he can destroy something, doesn’t mean he should. Nor does it mean he has the right to. He is someone who knows that one shouldn’t all the time run as fast, push as hard, fight as often, and eat as much as one can. He is learning just how far he should go. And that distinguishes him from a youth.

Learn from the Badger: Stand in Holy Places

“Aaron, Satan has no power if you’re not afraid of him. He becomes real through man’s fear and superstition. The bear is a large and ferocious animal, but he won’t attack a badger. Do you know why?

Aaron answered, “Because the badger is not afraid of him?”

“That’s right, and the badger also stays out of the bear’s way” (p.55, Brown Jr., Tom. The Search. New York: Prentice Hall, 1980.).

While there might be some room for discussion in what Tom means in the second sentence, I really love the lesson taught in this example. I think the most powerful part is the last line: that the badger also stays out of the bear’s way. Sure, if you are not afraid that counts for a lot. Having no fear is enough to scare and intimidate a bear. But if a badger does get into a fight with a bear, the bear will win. So what does the badger do? It avoids the bear!

Applying this to our life and Satan what do we learn? Not fearing Satan strips him of power. But if we do get in a direct fight, Satan will most likely win. That is just the way it is. So avoid the fight. Don’t EVER let Satan in. Don’t tease him or toy with him. You will lose, just as a badger against a bear. But, like the badger, the thought comes to mind: Stand ye in holy places (D&C 87:8). If we want to win the fight with Satan, why not just avoid the fight. Don’t go where Satan goes. Don’t be where Satan is. Surround yourself with light and have no fear.

Declaration of Study

There is in every eighteen-year-old boy the desire to face death. We all want to be tested. We all want to know for sure whether or not we are cowards or heroes, and our youth puts us at a disadvantage. We think the only way we can prove our manhood is through some life-or-death situation on the battlefield. It isn’t until we are more mature that we realize that manhood has little or nothing to do with physical prowess or cowardice, with our ability or inability to kill. Our manhood can be understood through our relation to the earth and its creatures; and survival is not to kill or be killed but to understand our place, our part in nature, and play it out (p.5, Brown Jr., Tom. The Search. New York: Prentice Hall, 1980.).

I have set the goal for 2013, at least the first half that is, to undertake several courses of study. I have wanted to study various topics for the last year or more and have never really put forth much effort. For the next six months I am going to see if I can actual study on a chosen topic and write about it, and apply it. If after six months I have actually progressed in my knowledge, then I will consider this a success.

What does this have to do with The Search and the quote? Well, good question. One of the three topics I have chosen to undertake is Manhood and heroism. The other two being Storytelling /Narrative Structure, and Spanish.

For years I have dabbled on the topic of manhood. I have read the occasional book, studied male roles as displayed in the Sunday Comics, and occasionally attempted to get in a fist fight to prove my strength and dominance only to quickly run away before my opponent gets off the floor and soundly pounds me. Ok, so I may be making some of that up. But the idea is conveyed: I have not taken the study seriously. As with Storytelling, I have always thought “Gee, sometime in the future I would like to learn more about this topic so that I am better versed in discussing it.” Only someday has never come. Well, someday no more my friends! I chose these three topics because they have been most on my mind of late and can clearly benefit me and my career. Now is the day. Carpe Diem and whatnot!

My first book of study on manhood is The Search. I love Tom Brown. He is one of my role models. His books greatly shaped my youth. I would sit captivated, listening to my Dad as he shared story after story of adventure in the wild as told by Tom Brown. And I thought, “these stories are great. And if Tom Brown is someone my Dad looks up too, then golly he can be someone I look up to.”

So what better place to start a course on manhood than the boy-man Tom Brown? And lo, five pages into the book is this incredible quote about manhood. Perfect! And he hits it right on. Manhood is so often portrayed as being physical. It is about the fight and struggle to survive, whether on the battlefield, on the street, in sports. A man is he who can kill the rest and be left standing, a king of the hill if you will. And I am tired of the that message being pounded into us. I am tired of the media asking why mass killings are on the rise while they glorify killing. As Brown points out, the world has got it wrong. Manhood has so much more to do with our relationships with each other, with creation, and with ourselves. A man is not someone who has killed and fought his way to victory. No, a man is someone who has conquered his inner demons and gained victory over himself. He is someone who understands the world and his place in it. He is not a killer. He is a defender of the sanctity of life.

Thank you, Tom Brown Jr., for getting that right and within the first five pages of your book.