life of andyman

Week One: Camp life is better than normal life.

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align=”right” title=”Tina and Kyle, other counselors.”

Imagine for a moment that you got a new job. Normally the bosses train you and they tell you things you’ll have to do at your job…you know, like, stock the product, clean the dishes, break down the boxes before you throw them out, be sure every customer knows about the specials you’re having…stuff like that.

But instead, let’s make it better. Now you have a new boss who is incredibly compassionate and smart, and whose mission in life is the “evolution of children into loving, caring adults.” Instead of spending a day telling you how to do your job, he spends a week.

Now when you get a new job the boss, or other authority figure, tells you to do things, and you generally do them; after all, that’s what you’re getting paid for. So what if your authority figure said this was your job: have as much fun as you can, because it will rub off on the campers and then they’ll have fun; become really good friends with your co-workers; be kind, caring, and compassionate to everyone; be as active as you can–when you sit around doing nothing, make it merely a short time to rest before new activities; be yourself and love others for being themselves; be spontaneous and passionate about learning new things, trying new things, and improving anything you can; when you have to learn, have to work, simply make it into a game and you’ll never care–the list goes on and on.

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align=”left” title=”The Colorado state flower, very beautiful.”

So Staff Training at camp has been the closest thing I have ever experienced to a bona fide utopia–there’s two or three authority figures which are inspiring, incredible individuals and they’re telling us our job: be happy, be yourself, have fun, love one another. And we’re listening! Since there’s only about 30 staff, this little utopia works.

Now, once the little campers arrive, our job is to sew that little utopia into our individuals cabins–to the campers, we’ll be the authority figures, and it is our job to make them as happy as we’ve been made during staff training week. They have taught us to be good leaders by example. What this means, among other things, is that during staff training week, we were treated somewhat like campers. We did all the things that the campers will come to do when they arrive. We sang cheesy camp songs, had nightly campfires, hiked almost every day, camped outside in tents one of the nights, sleeping in the cabins in bunks, archery, horesback riding, rock-climbing, relay races, s’mores, tie-dye shirts, a thursday night dance, nightly devotionals that are just like the movies–people literally sharing their secrets and dozens of us nearly or actually crying, so real is our appreciation for one another. For the past week, I’ve been paid to basically have fun.

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align=”left” title=”Ryan, Jess, Tina by a waterfall on my favorite trail.”

They teach me to have fun, be happy, love, so that I can teach it to others. Think about that and compare it to other jobs.

Then think about me, too…I don’t like sitting around doing nothing, watching tv; I try to be kind and loving and caring; I love trying and experiencing new things; I love nature; I am depressed by destructive ways of having fun (drinking, etc.); I long for experiences with my friends that I call “magical” and am disappointed that it hasn’t happened really since high school…now, do you think I’m enjoying myself? Do you see how I cannot help but feel that I belong?

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align=”right” title=”A couple of my favorite new friends, Max and Laura.”

They have an awards ceremony every week and the camp’s most prized award is called the “Bear Claw,” and its winner receives a necklace with a wooden bear claw as its ornament. The Bear Claw goes to the person who, in the staff’s collective opinion, most exemplifies the core values of the camp: caring, honesty, responsibility, respect. During staff week, they gave the award to four of the 25 counselors; I was shocked and emotionally honored to have been one of the recipients. They said, among other things, that I exemplified “camp attitude,” but all I could think was that camp exemplified my attitude, that it expemplified the things I have already and always valued in life, and feeling so moved that in this place I could be rewarded for being and doing what I have always valued in life.

Today, Sunday, the campers arrive. They’ll get here in about 2 hours. We will see how well can I make the transition from learning joy into teaching joy. I, for one, am optimisitc.

Some quick details:

People: The director, his wife, and the assistant director are all extraordinary, inspiring human beings, my compliment to their vision has been this entire entry. The counselors are all great too, and I have never gotten so close to so many people in a mere week. To tell you about each of the 25 would take far too long, but suffice it to say that if time and energy permitted, I could write a paragraph of appreciation and honor for each one–and in some cases a page.

Food: The camp treats us to three full, square meals a day. And not only that, they basically feel that the food is there to be eaten, so we can go into the kitchen during free time and make pretty much whatever we want with the supplies they have–and boy do they have supplies.

Place: Like I said in last week’s entry, it’s beautiful here. There’s a whole lot of Camp Jackson property, miles and miles of it. Trails and campsites and fire circles nestled in remote places in the woods all over the place.
I’ll be able to access the internet at any time off now, but with all the fun stuff going on, you still might expect a once a week entry. Until then, I am sincerely yours,
Andy.

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title=”Most of the staff out on my favorite trail.”