Defining Wilderness: Fear and Organized Nature

What is wilderness? Are we afraid of wilderness? And do you kill wilderness if it becomes too organized? Wilderness can be hard to definite and maybe it’s impossible to make a complete definition of the word. But let’s give it a try.

Wilderness. When I was younger, so much younger than today, I was really fascinated by Native American Indians. I read book after book about their lifestyle and history. I loved it and I wanted to try that lifestyle. So I decided, as soon as I could travel without my parents, I would go into the rainforests and find the perfect Indian tribe to live with. They would accept me and I imagined this perfect Indian man, who would show me how to hunt, how to find berries and how to be part of the nature. We would fall in love, and live as a part of nature, painting all the colors of the wind. Now I’m seventeen and this adventure isn’t a part of my future plans anymore. I’m going to go to a university, get an education, find a place to live and have some kids. Just like any other average people. I could give you many of excuses why I ditched my rainforest plans, but deep inside I know there is only one excuse. I’m afraid. I’m afraid of being in the wild all by myself. I’m afraid of never finding any Indians. I’m afraid of finding the Indians and then realize they won’t accept me. I’m way too afraid to do something so risky. And isn’t that what holds all of us back from the wild? The fact that if we fail, we can’t just call our family and ask them to pick us up. We can’t just give the jaguar some money and ask politely not to kill us and if we get lost, the GPS won’t help us. No things the humans have invented throughout time would make any difference in the wild. And that’s somewhat terrifying to think of, most people like to be safe and at least have a safety net if things goes wrong.