This is the eighth of a weekly blog series that will focus on leadership in the outdoors and how to get the most from the least. Even though the title is called, “Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man”, it will hopefully cover topics that are useful to everyone.
Chapter 8: Keep your bark tough.
“The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and the ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost maidenlike, guest in a hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth. The man who combines both characters – the knight – is not a work of nature but of art; of that art which has human beings, instead of canvas or marble, for its medium.”- C.S. Lewis
Keep your bark tough was a saying that mountain men of yesteryear would use that simply meant “have a tough hide,” or “quit your whining,” or simply put, “be a man.” This is certainly something that I think the outdoor education professions can help society return to. Spending a great deal of time in the outdoors in God’s wondrous creation instills an inherent sense of toughness and the ability to be resilient. Too many times today, society is outraged over seemingly minor issues or complains about not having the best, or greatest of first-world conveniences. This really tells the story of how modern-day society has lost touch with the hardships and struggles that the days of the past offered people and the lessons to be learned from adversity. Losing touch with God’s creation and turning to an intentional life of easiness and complaining is taking society down a very dangerous path based on man’s subjective reasoning, and has little to no basis in moral law or the principles our fore-fathers lived by to face a life of hardships and toughness.
Throughout the years of working as a naturalist, or leading programs in environmental or adventure education, I have had the privilege of working in just about every weather condition and environmental situation imaginable. The one constant in all of these programs was; the more risk, hardship, and the worse the weather and terrain were perceived to be, the tougher it was. In these circumstances, more education actually happened. If you are willing to put your physical and emotional well-being on the line and take a risk, the rewards can be great and you will be a better man for it and come out on the other side better educated and hardened for the next adventure.
The mountain men of yesteryear were what would now be considered the quintessential man. Strong, brave, tough, always ready for action, but also living by a code to be honorable to one another and ready to help any fellow mountain man in need. C.S. Lewis explains this need for men to be tough, yet civil in his writings of The Necessity of Chivalry. These men weren’t tough for tough’s sake or doing it to look cool, but tough for professional and personal requirements. Too many times today what is seen as tough, or what people aspire to “be a man” is counter to what is actually needed in this department. Over the years of working at camps and conference centers, I had the privilege to host and work many men’s retreats, in most cases for churches. As the years went by, these “men’s retreats” became more and more outlandish, constantly trying to one-up the “men’s” activities that were conducted the year before. The belief that to be a man you had to shoot guns, ride around on fast machines, and eat lots of meat is doing way more harm than good. Coming into the mountains for a weekend or two and pretending to be a tough man, makes you exactly the opposite.
In His design, God created man to have certain innate characteristics, just as He did for women. Today, that line has become blurred, and in some cases non-existent. In some of the most egregious cases, people have demanded or given apologies for being a man. This isn’t to say there aren’t some bad behavior cases, but in all of those bad behavior cases, it is men not being what God called them to be. To use our toughness and our resiliency as men the way God designed it to be used should never require an apology or an intentionality about going out to be a man by doing “manly” activities for a few days. Being a man is a lifetime job, every day, every hour, every instance. This is where the act of chivalry applies.
Keeping your bark tough isn’t just a sentiment or thought for men. Remember, in the mountain man’s time of yesteryear, women were almost always along with the trappers in the field on their adventures. I am certain these women were equal to or even tougher than some of the men. Mrs. Modern-Day Mountain Woman certainly fits into this category. She can be loving, caring and tender-hearted, but when needs be, she is as tough as they come by any mountain man standards.
God intended men to behave like men. He gave us Jesus as an example. When I was little, I vividly remember going into many Sunday school classrooms, churches and houses having what I refer to as a “Nordic Jesus” hanging on the wall for all to see. I am sure the reader knows what I am talking about. It was usually a picture of Jesus with a very kind and loving look on his face, with overall soft features, and even sometimes having crystal blue eyes, thus my referral to “Nordic Jesus.” I believe this to be the furthest thing from the truth. Jesus, who I would consider the first true mountaineer, was in my book the toughest man to ever walk the earth. Some of this toughness surely came from the daily life and adversity of the times, but mostly due to the terrible suffering and burden he came to endure for all mankind. He was the living embodiment of chivalry. He could be kind when kindness was called for, he wept when he was mourning and was a shining example of love for all, but make no mistake, Jesus was one hard-nosed man.
In conclusion, keeping your bark tough is something we should not only aspire to as modern-day mountain men but more importantly as Christians. Mountain men of all times should always have one thing in common, and that should be the ability to keep their bark tough. This is the call and purpose of our Creator, to be the men and women He designed us to be and always exhibit the toughness and resiliency that was modeled by Christ, the first and greatest Mountain Man.
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