I got reacquainted with a thought today. Last winter Jonny and I went to my Uncle's house and spent an afternoon building and using bow and drill fire making kits. It was definitely a cool learning experience. There as also definitely something rather primal about making fire by literally making a fire by rubbing a couple of sticks together. Recently, I have started watching a show on TV (no way!). Dual survival is a reality show on the Discovery Channel that puts two survival experts together in adverse conditions and shows how they cope and eventually survive long enough to reach civilization or get rescued. The two guys on the show have styles that are almost polar opposites. One is ex-military and usually fights nature head on using any modern equipment he can get his hands on. The other fellow is a primitive skills expert and tries to live alongside mother nature. It makes for a pretty interesting show because both of the experts actually compliment each other most of the time. Anyways, I suppose watching the show made me start thinking about some of the very limited primitive survival knowledge I have acquired over the years. The thought that I was recently reacquainted with was that is is almost an insult to our ancestors to not carry a lighter with you. :D
With the right materials and conditions, starting a fire with a bow and drill is tough, but not impossible. Only based on my personal experience, a bic lighter in my pocket at all times seems like a damn fine idea. But I like to take it just a little bit farther... Think about the thousands of generations of modern humans who ran around the planet fighting for survival. If we could take a bic lighter back to some hunter-gatherer types a few thousand years ago I think they would have been extremely appreciative. the power to create fire by flicking your thumb across a tiny striker that is small enough to keep in your pocket and contains enough fuel to light several hundred fires is truly an awesome thing!
Posts
