Would You Survive

I have an app on my ipod called, "would you survive?"  I got it thinking it would be a hard core survival test and ask all of these tricky questions to see if I had what it takes to live on a deserted island or something like that. Turns out it's kinda lame (shoulda guessed that, i know).  I think apps like these sell because our society is fascinated with survival, we have tv shows, board games, and how to guides all focused on survival.  We all want to know, if the unthinkable happens, would we survive.

I think that's why books like Hatchet, and today's read Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George are so appealing.  These people, these children, survive even in extreme circumstances.  Julie depended on a pack of wolves to survive.  She studied them and learned their language, she learned to think and act like a wolf. She survived alone in the winter in Alaska.  As you read it you forget that she is still just a girl and not a woman with intense survival training.  

What was fascinating about this book was it wasn't just a story of survival.  It was a story of self-discovery that chronicled major changes in the Eskimo lifestyle. It showed that survival is not just battling the elements and finding enough food, it is also finding who you are and how you fit in a changing world. 

Surviving...that's kids stuff.