I have had the great pleasure of chaperoning two school field trips the last two weeks. Last week was a "re-enactment" of the Lewis & Clark trip that involved a 22 mile canoe trip down the Saco with the 7th grade class. It was a crash course for me...quite humbling when I realized I didn't remember a single thing from my own middle school history. I had to ask alot of questions.
Then, last night I returned from a whitewater trip up to the Kennebec with the 8th grade. What amazing trips they were. Both trips were fairly tame on my adventure scale, but my adrenaline rush came from seeing both experiences through the kids' eyes. On the canoe trip, the moment came when they made the connection between their trip and Lewis & Clark's. One boy commented when we had to portage the canoes, that it must have been awful (although he used much more colorful and inappropriate language) for Lewis & Clark to carry their heavy hollowed out canoes over land so our canoes weren't that bad.
On the whitewater rafting trip, it was amazing to see the change in the kids' personalities when they were on the boats. All the "too cool" and "tough guy" facades just melted away, and they were just kids having an awesome time. In every single case, they took the importance of working as a team very seriously and bonded as a team. The boats and the experience leveled the playing field and everyone was the same for those four hours.
There must be a metaphor for life in this experience somewhere. Maybe it is as simple as the importance of working as a team particularly in rough times - so that you can stay afloat and make it into the calmer waters together. Hmmm........ I might just run with that one.
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