Beech Tree News Network

Have you seen the Discovery channel’s TV show “Naked and Afraid?”  If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and watch an episode.  Don’t worry if you have an aversion to naked people.  They block out the important parts.  Occasionally, you’ll see a naked butt, but that’s all.  They also bleep out any offensive language and gestures.  The show is billed as a docu-series.  I cannot stand reality TV because it seems so staged.  Naked and Afraid, however, puts itself out there.
    The premise for the show is to drop off two people in some sort of godawful wilderness, take their clothes, give them one survival tool each then see if they can make it to the end of twenty-one days without starving, dehydrating or strangling one another.  The show has been set in places like the Serengeti, the Louisiana back water, the Amazon jungle and Columbia, just to name a few.
    I like the show because I can sit in the comfort of my living room, eating popcorn and drinking green citrus tea while I point out why the survivalists’ plans are going awry and how I would have done things differently.  Sometimes, one of them will irritate me to the point that I will call him or her an idiot, and say stuff to the TV like, “I would never do that” or “I would hurt him if he did that to me” or “please, just tap out and leave that poor guy in peace.”  Of course, I have no idea what I’d do in that situation, because I’ve never been starving or dehydrated; although, there have been times when I’ve wanted to strangle my husband, Garey.
    Right out of the gate, it’s the insects—ants, mosquitos, sand flies, etc.—that drive the couple to the brink of madness.  It’s hard to take being incessantly chewed upon.  You would think the next thing that would get to the survivalists would be thirst or hunger, but it’s actually, the challenge of getting along with each other.  Once in a while you’ll have a couple that clicks, but most of the time, you have two people with very different ideas of what it will take to survive.
    One person will want to build a shelter first, while the other will want to find water; one will see the necessity for building a fire and the other will want them both to forage for food; one will want to lie back and conserve energy while the other will be a workaholic.  Sounds like real life, doesn’t it?  The show might not be real life, but it teaches some real-life lessons.
    The first is that attitude is everything.  If you are around a negative person, it will suck the life out of you.  In the current XL series ( 4 groups of 3 survivalists each are dropped off in separate parts of Columbia and have to survive for 40 days) Honora, an herbalist, has been partnered with two guys, Luke and Chris.  Honora is a real piece of work.  She has cried and whined and complained since day one.  She seems to have some misguided need to be the center of attention, so she constantly strives to create drama.  She complains that the guys don’t take her seriously or don’t appreciate her or want her to tap out.  Last week, she had a meltdown and threw Luke’s and Chris’s survival tools into the river.
    My granddaughter was walking through the living room while this drama played out.  She stopped, watched then said, “They’re not team work.”  Even a four-year-old could see Honora’s folly.  This brings me to the second life lesson, if you’re in a difficult situation, you need to pull together.  Pulling against the other person will get you nowhere real slow. 
    The third life lesson these people drive home every week is the importance of owning your mistakes and shortcomings and not blaming one another.  This one seems to be the really difficult one for everybody.  Blame shuts everything down and stalls any progress you might have hoped for.  It doesn’t matter who left the door to the grass hut open and let the coral snake in, just get the snake out.  Later, you can fashion a spring hinge for the door from the tongue of the lizard you ate for lunch, but right now you have more pressing matters, like staying alive.
    There are two survivalists on the show that Garey and I admire more than all the rest.  E.J. and Laura each did a twenty-one day challenge with other partners before doing a twenty-one day challenge together, and currently, they are on the XL version with other teams.  Both people have presence of mind, incredible skills, great attitudes and they are team players.  Of course they’re going to succeed
    If you find yourself naked and afraid—the state into which we are all born—the best you can hope for is a good partner to help you through.  That’s the most important lesson.