Thursday - October 28, 2004
 Obstacles
I once whipped through it in 68 seconds. Not a record, not even a max score,
but pretty good. It was the only physical test I didn't get a max score on. I
always blamed it on that damn wall. It is just too tall for short people. Most
obstacles are easier if you're
taller. I ran the obstacle course again
yesterday, twenty years after my first time. I didn't think it would be so
hard. The o-course is a skill and requires a lot of practice, still I didn't
think I would be as challenged as I was. Everything was so much bigger, the
grips on the bars thicker, the rails further apart than I remembered. I didn't
expect to match my previous best score, but I didn't think I would feel so
clumsy and nervous.This o-course,
unlike the one at Officer Candidate School, is tucked away in a small clearing,
near some heavily trafficked roads, screened by trees and undergrowth on all
sides. It's a patch of nowhere near somewhere. I jogged to the clearing
wearing my utility trousers and boots, and strode to the starting
point.The first obstacle is really
just a starting line in the form of a log mounted two feet up. The first real
obstacle is a bar seven or eight feet up. You have to get over the bar. A
strong man can jump up and flip himself over in one fluid motion. I'm not that
strong anymore. I have to do it the slow way.
I continued on, through all the
obstacles, the combination, the double bar, the cursed wall, the high hurdles,
and the rope climb. I didn't hurry. I couldn't hurry. I barely made it. I
made it. It took me about ten minutes and I was exhausted. Proud, exhausted.
Feeling rejuvenated. Knowing that feeling rejuvenated only meant that there is
a reason I needed rejuvenation. After proving to myself that I am indeed getting old, I began walking back to my
car and stopped at another clearing. It was so peaceful looking. A deer was
lying down in the middle of the glade about 20 yards away, seeing me, completely
ignoring me, and another, more suspicious deer was at the right side of the
clearing. He stopped and watched me.  At the far edge of the clearing were
two woodchucks. Fat and oblivious to my presence, they munched on the plants,
ignoring me walking by. I sat down
and watched them for about twenty minutes, twice the time I took to run through
the Marines' gauntlet of obstacles. Watching the woodchucks waddle. Daring the
deer to keep dining, making the suspicious one stop and glance nervously at me
everytime I so much as scratched my nose. I waited and waited for them to run
away, wanting to see their nimble jumps through the underbrush, over and under
obstacles like I once did. I couldn't find it in me to make them leave by
frightening them. They looked so
peaceful.The suspicious deer after a
while slowly walked to the center of the glade and stood over his friend. Did
he feel responsible for protecting her? Was it a female? I don't know enough
about deer to know that. I don't think the males grow antlers this time of
year. They were friends.I don't know
that there is any significance to these fauna in the glade as I finished the
o-course. I enjoyed seeing them, in peace, with no predators to fear. Would
that we could all live that way. But
we can't. So I will keep training and getting better at the obstacle course and
learning my trade. I will still take the time to enjoy what peacefulness I can
find, when I can find it. Either alone, or with those that I love. And keep
training so that we avoid obstacles to peace in our
land.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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