TEN FEET TALL AND BULLETPROOF

   I was reading in the newspaper about a hiker in Utah who was inspired by the movie 127 Hours to hike the same terrain as the fellow who had to hack off his own arm when it was pinned beneath a boulder in order to save his life.  The hiker in the newspaper story was a 64 year old man who came all the way from North Carolina to live the dream.  Well, he got his wish.  Hiking alone he fell ten feet, broke his ankle, dislocated his shoulder and without cell phone service he was forced to crawl for four days across the desert before being found by Canyonlands National Park Rangers.  Once again he was alone and had not told anyone where he was going.

   I call this the "Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof Syndrome."  It is a hold over from our youth when we thought we were indestructible and could conquer the world because it had to conform to our wills and wishes.  The rules of common sense were for other lesser mortals to follow.  We ignored them because they simply did not apply to us for in truth we knew a secret--we were immortal and nothing could harm us.  

   The problem with this kind of thinking is that it actually has provided breakthroughs in many fields of human endeavor:

• See that strange animal over there.  I going to go over and yank on that "udderly" disgusting think hanging down from between its hind legs and drink whatever comes out.
• I'm going to strap two straight boards on my feet, point them down this snow covered hill, push off and see what happens.
• I'm going to jump off this building and see if this bed sheet will lower me safely to the ground. 
• Let me fly this kite during a thunderstorm to see if lightning is really a form of electricity.
• The fossil fuel internal combustion engine is just what we need to make this country great.  Don't worry about the emissions. They are harmless.
• We're going to bombard this little piece of uranium with electrons and hope the resultant chain reaction does not destroy the entire world.

   Each generation thinks the previous generation is old fashioned, conservative and out of touch with reality.  I'm not sure about the out of touch with reality part because I think we are all on that journey but I know the old fashioned and conservative part usually comes because we finally have realized that we are not ten feet tall and bulletproof just eight feet tall and bullet resistant.