I did dangerous things.



First watch the video.


Guess what I did as a little kid. All of those things. And most of them I did at our families cabin.

1. I played with fire. We had a fire pit, and we had fireworks. The adults let all of us kids set up and start the fires. I think I remember burning myself three times. Probably twice on marshmallow sticks which don't glow red when they are hot enough to still burn, and once when I was moving a stick that was burning and grabbed a part that was hot.

What did this experience probably result in. I suspect it is alot of the reason why I was so keen to get to pour bronze in my sculpture class.

2.Own a pocket knife. I had various pocket knifes that I only ever remember using at the cabin. We had a large supply of wood, and I could work outside without having to clean up a mess. I probably only ever was able to carve an extremely rudimentary fish and take the bark off of a stick, but I never cut myself.

In art school I hear stories from people cutting themselves all the time on scissors and exacto knifes. I think I have had one papercut sized cut in the last 2 years. I must have learned something.

3. Throw a spear. I have used a slingshot, darts, bow and arrow, and lawn darts at our cabin. I also learned how to juggle and yo-yo when I was little. I seemed to thrive off of any activities such as those. I suspect that these activities are why I have good hand eye coordination, and usually work really quick. They are really varied task which would have started my ability to learn different activities really quickly and have the patients to master them.

4. Take apart an appliance. I have to say that I never really got into this one. I have taken apart, (I think), a fan or a drill and a TV. Neither was very informative, though at least I did it. I think I learned alot more from building vehicles out of Knex and building card houses. I learned about how iterative design works. Build something once, test, change one aspect, repeat forever. I built 4 wheel drive steerable cars and 14 story cards houses using these methods. It's undeniable how influential this experience was.

5. Drive a car. Again, at our cabin my dad let all the kids get on his lap and drive our car around one of the the desserted streets. It was the biggest treat in the world and once again, taught me that I could do stuff like that.

6. Break the DMCA. Oh, I think this is something I actually have to get my parents to do.


Other dangereous things.

Jump off high dives and cliffs
Fly off of swings
Trampoline and tumbling
Water ski and tube like a crazy person
Drive a boat
Swing on ropes
Climb trees


Obviously I was greatly helped by these abilities. Though I was lucky. Our family had the cabin where we were allowed to do this stuff. And I had parents who let me. Obviously our society is not setup to let kids do this type of stuff, that needs to change. We are dumping the worlds down and making it boring. Why do we always have to build stairs, why can't we put ladders and fire poles in buildings. Rock wall and obstacles?


Kyler

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always been in support of this type of idea...

Anyways, let's see what I've done.

1. Fire
-Definitely. Heh. Too many times to count. Yay for Beavers/Cubs/Scouts!

2. Pocket Knife
-Yes again, and for the same reasons.

3. Spear
-Not a spear itself, but I've done various similar activities as a kid.

4. Appliance deconstruction
-Admittedly I never did this one.

5. Drive a car
-Again, never done this. I did get to drive a rented boat though, so maybe that counts? Dunno.

6. DMCA
-Well, the DMCA doesn't exist in Canada (at least yet), so that doesn't apply the same way. ;)

Otherwie, I've done tons of crazy things as a kid. The only thing on your list (Kyler) that I haven't done is the jumping off cliffs into water, but that's because I couldn't get water in my ears. Heh, I still remember how my Mom was looking out her second story window when I was four while talking on a phone and saw me higher up than her in a tree. She freaked out. Heh. Oh man how I love(d) climbing trees.

Anonymous said...

Hmm...I'm pretty sure I was involved in every single one of these dangerous things you did at the cabin. Perhaps we need to do more dangerous things. Now that we're adults, our dangerous activities can take on all new dimensions....

Nick

Anonymous said...

Interesting post, Ky. Your dad deserves a lot of the credit. He didn't just turn you loose, rather he taught you how to do things then let you try it. He is really a very gifted teacher.
Brenda
PS I just saw Robyn's picture of "the thinker" and it made me think of your bronze, and how much I liked it.