One more time: The Wilderness: What for?

Imi writes...

Today I had occasion to realise how very puny I am. After the first very difficult portage, I thought I was a 'somebody', because I could carry my own backpack as I'd done for all portages so far. In the second even more difficult portage I was slipping and sliding and without Howard's help I could not have made it.

In the third portage I was asked to walk across without the backpack weight. In all these portages Howard carried the bulk of the weight, balanced the canoe on his shoulders, walked over moraine in his water shoes without ankle support. At one point with about 200 pounds on his back he waded through knee high mulch.

Blind or not, I am a physical mismatch against him. Without his tower of strength, this trip would not have been possible for me. (I wish to express my gratitude in public for the extraordinary service he has done for me.)

With the public confession of my incapacity, I wish to make a rather unpleasant philosophical point:

The world should not be so ordered that it offers no physical challenges. It should not be made so tame that those who are fearful are at ease, but rather those venturesome are born.

I am not speaking from the point of strength. I rely on the goodwill of others to be able to experience the wilderness myself.

Let humans be kind and good, and provide a helping hand to those who need help, but let the world have its rough edges and be wild and free.

Imtiaz

Read Howard's blog post from the same day. 
Read Imi's previous blog post.