Context

Context is an interesting animal that affects perceptions, as I observed before. On that occasion, I believe I related how the longest hole on our nearby par 3 was shorter than many of our approach shots, but intimidated golfers on my team nonetheless (yes, I did play many years ago). And, the biggest surf wave on our local river is dwarfed by what we freely play at much more challenging venues. And yet, paddlers are apprehensive because it’s the largest in this context. The latest example is a kayak trip in Alaska I’m prepping for. The group is beginning to spaz out. Why? It’s Alaska! So what? We’ll be miles from anything resembling civilization. We’ve done that before. I feel better about the Coast Guard in Seward than I did about whatever Canadian forces were in the remote corners of Georgian Bay we paddled last year. We saw no sign of them where we launched and certainly none at sea. There are bears! Bears have inhabited many places we’ve paddled. The Apostle Islands have the densest population in the country and we barely (excuse the pun) caught sight of them. What about the climate? It’s summer. The highs will be in the 50s. We’ve done colder. But, it’s Alaska. Okay, I get it. Context. I could be wrong. If no more blogs appear here, you’ll know I was.