“He had two thoughts going through his head all the time,” she said. “Toby’s always told him that ‘If you get lost, stay on the trail.’ So he stayed on the trail. We’ve also told him don’t talk to strangers … when an ATV or horse came by he got off the trail … when they left, he got back on the trail.”
So, you’re lost in the woods, hungry, cold, thirsty . . . and you hide from your rescuers. What an idiot!
[sub]OK, now I read the next part, where the mom says, “His biggest fear, he told me, was someone would steal him.” I guess growing up in Utah during the Elizabeth Smart debacle could mess with a kid’s mind. But that lessens his idiocy, and would decrease the pitworthiness of an already shaky pit thread, so I’m pretending not to have seen that part. Although I suppose I could pit the fear culture that we’re living in today, but that might turn into a debate, so, I’m sticking with the “what an idiot!” pit thread[/sub]
The reason we drill these things into the heads of children is because children typically do not have the sophisticated critical decision-making abilities that adults have. Ergo, it is not surprising (although nearly tragic) that the biy did not make a rational discrimination between when it was appropriate and inappropriate to follow his lessons to the letter.
Y’know, I’m really glad he was found safe. I’m a parent, and indeed, this is a parent’s worst nightmare.
But something is up with this incident…I find it a bit strange that he didn’t just follow the trail back to the chow hall. I don’t know what that area is like, exactly, but it sounds like it should’ve been easy enough to take that trail back to camp. I’m thinking either he’s a bit dissociative or that he was trying to run away, but thought better of it. Of course, it could all just be a regular kid that simply got lost, but something about this is a bit off.
Reading about him, I just kept thinking that he was probably mortally embarrassed. Maybe it’s where and when I grew up (North Jersey, '70s), but adults generally mocked and berated kids who got lost. If I were in his position when I was 11, I would probably have chosen to starve to death, rather than face scorn when I returned home.
Oh, I read in a recent update on Yahoo! that he’s “socially immature” but not mentally disabled. I’m not sure what that is, but perhaps it has something to do with it.
Another thing that bothers me about this is that he was there as a guest of a friend and was with a group which I assume was supervised. So what did the friend do, just go back without him?
Great: more public humiliation. “Socially immature” doesn’t sound like a clinical diagnosis to me (by all means correct me if I’m wrong); it sounds like the mom/parents are in the habit of treating him like he’s incompetent, thus making him feel he can never live down the time he wandered off in the supermarket or something.
Again I say, it’s possible he was too embarrassed to ask for help. Wanted to see if he could find his way out on his own. He may have read survival stories, like the one about the guy who amputated his foot.
(Sorry; interference.) Anyway, he may have read survival stories, like the one about the guy who amputated his arm, and wanted to see if he could be self-reliant.
Now that everyone else in the cube farm is looking at me for laughing/snorting gross stuff all over my desk, I guess it’s time to go home. Good one, John.
Re. the socially immature thing. The kid’s church leader and the principal of his school mentioned just that he was a “very quiet” boy not disposed to talking to adults much. FWIW. He could just be shy and got labelled as “socially immature”.
That being said, why isn’t there this much of a media clusterfuck over run of the mill kids that are kidnapped everyday? Do the Mormons have a monopoly on being worried over missing children?
See, for whatever reason, he was at the bottom of the totem pole in his family. Maybe this will give him some cred. Or maybe the parents will go even further in treating him like a total incompetent. “No, you can’t do that; remember the time you got lost? We don’t want THAT happening again!”
I don’t see how he wandered off. He was within sight of an instructor and then he was gone. Has it been reported if he decided to take a walk or go pee in the woods or what? How did he get far enough from camp to be lost without knowing he was going away from wherever he came from?
Speaking as a Utahoo who knows that area fairly well. Yes, yes, he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. And he’s been taught neither jack nor crap. They make such a big deal that he was a boy scout, but most boys here are. Seldom are they effectively taught the basics like what to do if you get lost or be prepared before going anywhere.
I grew up here and IMO most parents here are grossly over protective. 30 years ago when I was a kid summers were spent unsupervised, out of doors. That’s simple not the case for children here anymore.
He is one lucky, lucky little bugger. That area can be dangerous, and it could be very easy to become lost anytime of day. The kid who got lost in the same area last year has not turned up yet.
Mormons, especially Mormons in Utah, are fun because they’re all secretive and stuff and there’s always the possibility of polygamy. And really, aren’t those the important issues that the media needs to report on and we all have to eagerly drink up? So when one of their kids goes missing, its a great oppertunity to get all the inside dirt on their families under the guise of “helping.”
France or Germany. I’d go with Germany because I like pointy buildings.