Desert BODMAS

Once, a long time ago, I went to a survival camp and was taught to do things in ways I would normally not even consider. But most of them made sense.

For example if someone is drowning in a river, the last thing you should do is to jump in to save that person. There are many other reasons why a person could be drowning, including cramping, rough under current, poisonous snake or other animal, weed entanglements, and other possibilities. All of which would also kill you the same way even if you're a world champion swimmer.

Then it was getting lost in the desert. The question was: If you're lost in the desert with no sense of direction and only a 600ml bottle of water, what would you do with the water and how would you try to survive?

Understand that when I was going for these courses, Bear Grylls was still learning how to eat goat testicles.

They said that I should immediately drink all of the bottle's contents and try to use the little time of complete clarity to find a way to get myself out of the situation. Yea right. How many would, being lost in the middle of the desert, choose to gulp down the entire bottle of water in one go? Even if you have complete clarity, you could only do something given that you know how to do anything at all under the circumstance.

If you know how to dig a hole under the sand, place a plastic cover and a pail to catch the condensed air to get water for consumption, then good for you. What if then you have no equipments, no substitutes and no idea what to do? Would you still drink all of them in one go, or would you ration them as much as you could in hopes that rescue would come to you before you die?

In essence your answer to these questions will reveal what kind of person you are, how you approach tasks and handle danger, and what you expect from life and others around you.

For example we can all agree that a person who jumps into troubled water to save the damsel is god damned stupid, and he's got balls where his brains should be. But what if your own wife/mother/sister/brother/son is the one in there calling for help? Would you keep telling yourself to remain calm and try to find alternative ways to save them without harming yourself?

And what if you took the guide's advise and drank all the water in one gulp, but you can't figure anything out despite your mental clarity because you don't know how to deal with these kinds of situations in the first place, then you die of dehydration just minutes from rescue's arrival?

What if you watched Bear Grylls eat that dead zebra, did the same, and died of dehydration caused by diarrhea just hours before some 4x4 crashes through the dunes and could have discovered  and saved you had you not tried to be smart?

Shit happens. If you have to die then let it be. Ultimately we are just numbers in the world of statistics, nothing more. If millions can die of car crashes, cancer and cigarettes why can't one die of an extraordinary cause?