Part Two: Passion For Adventure

I recently read Aron Ralston's book Between A Rock & A Hard Place. It is a fascinating read into the mind of a fellow adventurer with the misfortune of becoming trapped in a slot canyon in outdoors mecca of Utah's canyonlands. He ended up having to amputate his own arm to escape his six day entrapment beneath a shifted boulder. Ralston does not regret the choices he made in exploring that cabin and shares in the book that he is a better man for having gone through the experience. My cousin-in-law Darryl encouraged me to share a quote from the book that I think illustrates well the innate desire we have for adventure. Ralston quotes Jon Krakauer's book Into The Wild as being sort of a manifesto for his life:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances & yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."