Out wit, Out play, Out last. At the mere mention of these
words my heart races, adrenaline starts pumping through my veins, I see myself
eating bugs and drinking coconut water straight from the coconut, pumping up my
other team mates by using the most awe inspiring lyrics from Rush that I can
think of, and competing against the most athletic of 24 year olds only to have
them turn to me and look at the 40+ year old with respect!
We, as a family started watching Survivor in 2002. It was
filmed in the Marquesas Islands and featured one of our favorite competitors
Rob Mariano. We quickly realized that this show was more than just a reality TV
series that showed the moral decay of society at it’s worst; this was a peek
into civilization as a whole, and a great life lesson for the kids. We could
safely show how people act under different circumstances and how their moral upbringing
and their world views played a part in how they made it through a game that was
designed to have them question everything they had been taught as children: do
unto others, share, don’t lie, and always say you’re sorry. It also provided a platform for
exploring different cultures of the world, psychology, sociology, weather phenomenon,
survival skills, logic, puzzles, physical fitness, physics, chemistry, anatomy,
biology, and zoology. Like I said, the most well rounded home school curriculum
EVER!!!!
At the Tower of Babel languages were confused and a group of
once coherent people were now left to figure out a new life without the
foundation of a common language. This is how each season of Survivor starts,
and this is how our curriculum started. A group of strangers, men and women,
different ages, different social classes, different cultural backgrounds,
different morals and ethics that have shaped their world view are all thrown
together and told to get along (but, look out for self). The goal is to out
wit, out play and out last all the other contestants over the next 39 days and
come out the sole survivor. The first couple of days most people realize you
can’t do this alone, you have to have the whole tribe working together for the
common goals of: food, shelter, water, and fire (your basic elements for
survival). We love taking this time to talk to the kids about people in
general. You see the personalities of the contestants and how they want to be
seen by others. Every one is cordial for the most part, people don’t say what
is on their minds, and opinions are usually kept on the down low, no one wants
to offend the other players. This is life and this is how we all act in a new situation
among strangers.
As the first couple of days go by, food and water are scarce,
sleep is less than adequate and the tribes are faced with the first of many challenges,
the reward is something essential for their survival and definitely worth
playing for. During the challenges we often take time out to pause and discuss
how each one of us would approach the challenge and why. I love seeing how the kids
think through their options and then also having the opportunity to throw a
little wisdom their way when we can tell they would just rush head long into
danger. These challenges also give light to the fact that you can’t judge a
book by its cover. Just because someone is young and muscular doesn’t necessarily
mean that they have the stamina to complete a challenge, and just because
someone is older doesn’t mean that they aren’t a beast at physically demanding
tasks. The challenges provide the opportunity to discuss physics, biology,
anatomy, logic, health and fitness, and even I get to pipe in with my nursing
knowledge. I can tell you when someone is getting ready to pass out and they
should call the medical team in. I am pretty sure I called Colton’s faking
appendicitis and the bogus eye injury by Shamar during the filming of Survivor:
Caramoan.
As the tribes are faced with these challenges if they loose
they have to go to tribal council and someone will be voted out. This is another
great life lesson: There is always a loser, not everyone on the field gets a
trophy. Life sometimes isn’t fair and the liars and cheats sometimes get farther
in life than you. Sometimes there are surprises and the bad people get exactly
what they deserve, but you never know so suck it up, deal with it. Don’t let
the bad stuff in life make you bitter, let it make you better. We also take
this time to pause during the show (if you haven’t figured it out yet, what is
an hour show on TV usually takes us about 1.5-2 hr to finish with all the
pausing we do) to discuss how the tribe members act during tribal and how Jeff
asks the most pointed questions to draw out the contestants true feelings. We
have always wondered is it that Jeff has information being fed to him or is he
after all these years just such a good read of people. We may never know but
this experiment into society is always fascinating.
As the days go by, challenges are won and lost, tribe members
are voted off usually due to getting rid of the weakest links first, and
alliances are formed on opposing tribes just in time for a merge. As the merge
happens the question remains will alliances remain true? What once was a group thing
becomes a more singular thing. The challenges are now based on an individual’s performance.
Seeing the shift happen here is always interesting. You see how people become
much more serious about the decisions they are making and alliances they are
forming, better at deception, better at avoidance to make sure that self is
preserved. Here is usually were most of our discussions happen. Asking the age-old
questions about right and wrong, working through ethical dilemmas and debates
over all the “grey areas”.
This is life outside the protective walls of mom and
dad. You have to live in the world
but not be consumed by the world. Here’s were we as parents hope we have armed
our children with all the necessary skills to survive; to out wit, out play and
out last, to become a “soul survivor”.
