This is NOT your practice life!

How To Face Daily Challenges and Harsh Realities To Find Inner Peace through Mental Mapping
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Test

Proper Footwear

7/26/2024

0 Comments

 
I was intrigued by the story of a 42-year-old Belgian tourist whose feet were burned by the hot July surface of the Mojave Desert after he lost or broke his flip-flops. *
​
What intrigued me? His age. He’s lived on this planet for four decades, but seems to have learned little about surviving its risks. Well, maybe that’s wrong. Maybe he knew the risk of walking in sands approaching 180 degrees Fahrenheit, but his hubris convinced him that he was invulnerable. Lesson learned, I suppose, the hard (or hot) way.


Flip-flops on a hike? A hike in the Mojave in July! What part of the name Death Valley escaped his attention? And it wasn’t an accident he was there. He traveled to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes purposely. Probably had a brochure in his cargo shorts.


No Excuses on the Home Planet


You can find the bathroom in your house at night. You can because you are familiar with your home. Well, you have a larger home with which you are familiar, even if you have never been in every room.That place is the home planet. You know about places you have never visited because of classes in school, background settings in movies, documentaries, and even TV news reports. You have been bombarded with images from all over the planet—heck, even with images of the moon and Mars—for all your life. You’ve seen lions on the Serengeti and yaks in the Himalayas. Suffice the point with this: One would have to have lived in a mental closet in the modern world to have avoided knowledge about most places on Earth. I’m betting that if I asked you to describe the climate and landscape of a place you’ve never visited like Mt. Everest, you could mouth a fairly accurate description. If I asked, “How what would you pack for a summer vacation in Athens?” I don’t think you would say, “The same clothes I would pack for a winter ski vacation in Vail.”


We can excuse the ancients and the people of four or five centuries ago for not knowing much about Earth’s processes and features. Because no one had previously written about a pyroclastic flow and described its reach and dangers, Pompeians alive in 79 AD could be excused for not knowing what a volcano could do. It’s more difficult to ascribe excuses to residents of Naples today. They know Vesuvius erupts, and they have evidence in the ruins of Pompei to indicate what can happen. Similarly, because no one had written about hurricanes and hurricane paths prior to 1622, the captains of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and seven other Spanish galleons that sank in the same storm could be excused for their ignorance about late summer hurricanes off the Florida Keys.


But a Belgian adult in 2024 has no excuse for suffering burns because he wore flip-flops in Death Valley. Fact is, unless he was living in a room without windows, TV, and books, he might have had to go out of is way to miss readily available information about Earth’s processes and features. Even travel brochures contain descriptions of Earth’s varied regions, many of those colorful pamphlets pointing out local dangers, including weather and geologic phenomena. What excuse does a Belgian adult give after suffering burns from super hot sands?


Know Place and Self to Survive on a Planet of Risks


When my younger son was little, he asked me why I taught earth sciences. On occasion Dr. Christian Conte tells that story to make a point about knowing oneself. This is how he tells the story in his Walking through Anger:


    “My dad was a professor of English literature before he changed directions and switched to teaching earth science. When I was young, I saw fun in storytelling, in mythology, and in the subject of literature; but, admittedly, I did not see the value in studying the ground. As a haughty teenager, I asked my dad why he chose to be an earth scientist. He replied, ‘If you’re only ever going to live on one planet in your life, don’t you think you ought to know about that planet?’ I loved that answer. A few years later, when I was in college, I felt lost and didn’t know what course of study to follow. I thought about my dad’s explanation of why he did what he did. Then the thought occurred to me: I will only ever live with me, so shouldn’t I get to know myself? I decided then and there to study psychology.” (4)**


That Belgian Guy with the Burned Feet


That Belgian guy with the burned feet should get this year’s “Darwin Award.” He illustrates the folly of not knowing self and place.

No, you don’t have to know how Ordovician limestones formed in ancient tropical seas. You should, however, know that limestone regions are subject to sinkhole formation. You don’t have to know how seismic waves travel. You should know where movements along faults are likely to produce building-damaging seismic waves. You don’t have to know why the Mojave lies in its location. You should know that during summers the heat there can injure or kill.


And you should know your own limitations, like not being able to walk barefoot on hot sands. Knowing Self is often tied to knowing Place.




*Joseph Serna. Los Angeles Times Wed, July 24, 2024 at 3:38 PM EDT Online at https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-valley-heat-melts-skin-193806143.html


**2019. Boulder, Colorado. Sounds True (Pub). Walking through Anger: A New Design for Confronting Conflict in an Emotionally Charged World.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    000 Years Ago
    11:30 A.M.
    130
    19
    3d
    A Life Affluent
    All Joy Turneth To Sorrow
    Aluminum
    Amblyopia
    And Minarets
    And Then Philippa Spoke Up
    Area 51 V. Photo 51
    Area Of Influence
    Are You Listening?
    As Carmen Sings
    As Useless As Yesterday's Newspaper
    As You Map Today
    A Treasure Of Great Price
    A Vice In Her Goodness
    Bananas
    Before You Sling Dirt
    Blue Photons Do The Job
    Bottom Of The Ninth
    Bouncing
    Brackets Of Life
    But
    But Uncreative
    Ca)2Al4Si14O36·15H2O: When The Fortress Walls Are The Enemy
    Can You Pick Up A Cast Die?
    Cartography Of Control
    Charge Of The Light Brigade
    Cloister Earth
    Compasses
    Crater Lake
    Crystalline Vs Amorphous
    Crystal Unclear
    Density
    Dido As Diode
    Disappointment
    Does Place Exert An Emotional Force?
    Do Fish Fear Fire?
    Don't Go Up There
    Double-take
    Down By A Run
    Dust
    Endless Is The Good
    Epic Fail
    Eros And Canon In D Headbanger
    Euclid
    Euthyphro Is Alive And Well
    Faethm
    Faith
    Fast Brain
    Fetch
    Fido's Fangs
    Fly Ball
    For Some It’s Morning In Mourning
    For The Skin Of An Elephant
    Fortunately
    Fracking Emotions
    Fractions
    Fused Sentences
    Future Perfect
    Geographic Caricature And Opportunity
    Glacier
    Gold For Salt?
    Great
    Gutsy Or Dumb?
    Here There Be Blogs
    Human Florigen
    If Galileo Were A Psychologist
    If I Were A Child
    I Map
    In Search Of Philosopher's Stones
    In Search Of The Human Ponor
    I Repeat
    Is It Just Me?
    Ithaca Is Yours
    It's All Doom And Gloom
    It's Always A Battle
    It's Always All About You
    It’s A Messy Organization
    It’s A Palliative World
    It Takes A Simple Mindset
    Just Because It's True
    Just For You
    K2
    Keep It Simple
    King For A Day
    Laki
    Life On Mars
    Lines On Canvas
    Little Girl In The Fog
    Living Fossils
    Longshore Transport
    Lost Teeth
    Magma
    Majestic
    Make And Break
    Maslow’s Five And My Three
    Meditation Upon No Red Balloon
    Message In A Throttle
    Meteor Shower
    Minerals
    Mono-anthropism
    Monsters In The Cloud Of Memory
    Moral Indemnity
    More Of The Same
    Movie Award
    Moving Motionless
    (Na2
    Never Despair
    New Year's Eve
    Not Real
    Not Your Cup Of Tea?
    Now What Are You Doing?
    Of Consciousness And Iconoclasts
    Of Earworms And Spicy Foods
    Of Polygons And Circles
    Of Roof Collapses
    Oh
    Omen
    One Click
    Outsiders On The Inside
    Pain Free
    Passion Blew The Gale
    Perfect Philosophy
    Place
    Points Of Departure
    Politically Correct Tale
    Polylocation
    Pressure Point
    Prison
    Pro Tanto World
    Refresh
    Regret Over Missing An Un-hittable Target
    Relentless
    REPOSTED BLOG: √2
    REPOSTED BLOG: Algebraic Proof You’re Always Right
    REPOSTED BLOG: Are You Diana?
    REPOSTED BLOG: Assimilating Values
    REPOSTED BLOG: Bamboo
    REPOSTED BLOG: Discoverers And Creators
    REPOSTED BLOG: Emotional Relief
    REPOSTED BLOG: Feeling Unappreciated?
    REPOSTED BLOG: Missing Anxiety By A Millimeter Or Infinity
    REPOSTED BLOG: Palimpsest
    REPOSTED BLOG: Picture This
    REPOSTED BLOG: Proximity And Empathy
    Reposted Blog: Sacred Ground
    REPOSTED BLOG: Sedit Qui Timuit Ne Non Succederet
    REPOSTED BLOG: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
    REPOSTED BLOG: Sponges And Brains
    REPOSTED BLOG: The Fiddler In The Pantheon
    REPOSTED BLOG: The Junk Drawer
    REPOSTED BLOG: The Pattern Axiom
    REPOSTED IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT OREGON ATTACK: Special By Virtue Of Being Here
    REPOSTED: Place
    River Or Lake?
    Scales
    Self-driving Miss Daisy
    Seven Centimeters Per Year
    Shouting At The Crossroads
    Sikharas
    Similar Differences And Different Similarities
    Simple Tune
    Slow Mind
    Stages
    Steeples
    Stupas
    “Such Is Life”
    Sutra Addiction
    Swivel Chair
    Take Me To Your Leader
    Tats
    Tautological Redundancy
    Template
    The
    The Baby And The Centenarian
    The Claw Of Arakaou
    The Embodiment Of Place
    The Emperor And The Unwanted Gift
    The Final Frontier
    The Flow
    The Folly Of Presuming Victory
    The Hand Of God
    The Inostensible Source
    The Lions Clawee9b37e566
    Then Eyjafjallajökull
    The Proprioceptive One Survives
    The Qualifier
    The Scapegoat In The Mirror
    The Slowest Waterfall
    The Transformer On Bourbon Street
    The Unsinkable Boat
    The Workable Ponzi Scheme
    They'll Be Fine; Don't Worry
    Through The Unopened Door
    Time
    Toddler
    To Drink Or Not To Drink
    Trust
    Two On
    Two Out
    Umbrella
    Unconformities
    Unknown
    Vector Bundle
    Warning Track Power
    Wattle And Daub
    Waxing And Waning
    Wealth And Dependence
    What Does It Mean?
    What Do You Really Want?
    What Kind Of Character Are You?
    What Microcosm Today?
    What Would Alexander Do7996772102
    Where’s Jacob Henry When You Need Him?
    Where There Is No Geography
    Window
    Wish I Had Taken Guitar Lessons
    Wonderful Things
    Wonders
    Word Pass
    Yes
    You
    You Could
    Your Personal Kiribati

    RSS Feed


Web Hosting by iPage