Okay, I'll state up front this is a troll - maybe this forum needs a good troll now and again to shake it up <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It seems to me that a lot of the regular posters around here are more interested in the latest gadgets and trinkets than they are about "survival", at least as I understand it.

For example, it seems to me there are people on this forum who will happily spend $200 for a knife that they don't need, but will balk at spending half that sum on a First Aid course. (I don't think they're the majority, or even a sizable minority; but we continue to encounter posts from supposedly experienced outdoorsmen who talk blithely about using duct tape and super-glue to close a superficial wound, for example.)

What about accident prevention? Or, failing that, accident avoidance? (i.e. Making sure you're not around when the accident happens.) I've just finished reading "Deep Water", an account of the June 1978 canoeing tragedy on Lake Temiskaming, on the Quebec/Ontario border. One boy who was scheduled to go on the trip was pulled off it by his father, literally at the last minute. When the school headmaster protested the father's decision, threatening dire consequences for the son, his father poked him in the chest and said clearly, "Someone is going to die and it's not going to be my son." With that, he got in the car and drove off, his son in the back seat. Less than 24 hours later, 12 of the boy's classmates were dead, along with one adult leader.

The boy is not listed among the "survivors" because he never went on the trip; but is this not really the ultimate survival technique? Recognising a dangerous situation and bailing out before it's too late?

I posted on the other forum, asking for tips on how non-pilots might recognise a potentially dangerous situation and opt to take the bus instead of flying. Every year, incompetent pilots kill not only themselves, but trusting passengers who deserve better. So far, over 70 people have read this post, but not one has responded. Why? Is it because they don't perceive this as a "survival" topic? Has nobody here ever considered the principle of making a go/no-go decision in a situation where you lack the formal training necessary? Does nobody have anything useful to say about it?

I must confess, I'm more than a little disappointed. To me, "survival" is much more than debating the merits of this knife over that one, or how much stuff we can cram inside an Altoids tin. All the survival skills in the world won't save you if you're killed on impact.

There's an old saying among pilots that "A superior pilot uses his superior judgement to avoid getting into situations where he needs to employ his superior skills to save his superior ass." That, to me, is the ultimate survival mechanism - simply not being there when "it" happens.

Any comments? Questions? Curses or insults? Or should I just shut up and go away? <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />