Last writes, “A couple of weeks ago I did a story for the magazine about camping in Yellowstone -National Park with my son. It was called ‘Safety Not Guaranteed.’ I got a number of very nice emails about it, for which I’m grateful. Thanks. But one note about how different our world is today really struck me. It’s from Robert Rosenthal and he kindly gave me permission to share it with you:
When I was in my late teens and from New York City, that’s about 65 years ago, I had the opportunity to work on a ranch in Arizona. I was a beginner cowboy and did everything from wrangling, herding, cleaning out the stables, dehorning, castrating, etc. The three summers that I did that were the most exciting in my life and I’ve always felt that the experience of working hard made a man out of me. During my second summer the boss told me that I was going to ride fence the next week—alone. I would ride about 30 miles with just a pack animal. I toted the extra wire, tools, a coffee pot and pan, a brick of bacon, canned peaches, some flour, and four water bags. I also had a rifle—a 30-30 Winchester—and a revolver. I would ride until I saw a fence break. Then I’d stop, repair it, and move on. I’d camp each night where cowboys had camped the last time, usually by a stream or a spring. I’d make breakfast and dinner of bacon and coffee. I’d use the grease in the pan to make cowboy bread which I’d then pocket for snacks during the day. I’d wrap myself in my horse blanket and sleep until I’d hear “noises.” At which point I’d move the rifle over my lap and picture wolves. (The noises were usually chipmunks.) I’d do this for about four days. I asked the boss what would happen if I got into trouble or hurt myself. His response was, “Don’t get hurt, but if you do and if your horse comes back alone I’ll know you’re in trouble.” This was before cell phones. I did it and loved it. As the foreman was taking me to the airport on my last day, he told me that if he and the boss didn’t have confidence in my abilities they would never have let me ride fence. Those words were the most important in my life.”
Last concludes: “As I said in my piece, in the final accounting, it’s probably a good thing that we’ve turned our country into one big safe space. But just because it’s a net-good doesn’t mean that we haven’t lost something in the transformation, too.”
