I was at a Panera the other day and noticed a RW Emerson
quote: ‘Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path
and leave a trail’. Often that quote
will inspire me, and as education pushes administrators to be instructional
leaders I can see how this idea is catchy.
But today, for some reason the quote simply reminded me of the lessons
my father taught me about respecting the wilderness.
My father was a forester.
In the way that superintendents manage a school district he managed a
forest, the Caribou National Forest (now combined with the Targhee), about 1
million acres.
He had a company car
(lime green) and a company horse (Red).
He had leadership meetings, QLD meetings and company retreats.
The really cool part was the retreat probably
entailed white water rafting or horseback rides into the back country.
On one trip, I volunteered to help clear
the timber wreckage from a high mountain tornado. We had to ride in as horses
were the only vehicle that could navigate the terrain.
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Gray's Range, Caribou NF
retrieved from www.forwolves.org |
Adventurous in spirit, I would spur my horse
off the trail to check out sights and sometimes simply to show how maverick I
was.
My father watched quietly from the
narrow trail.
When I came back from one
spectacular foray through a meadow of breathtaking wildflowers, he stopped me.
“Son, that’s not a good idea.
The trail is here for a reason.
My rangers have laid this trail to avoid
problems and to avoid animal habitats.“
Honestly, he would say 'habitats' like that in casual conversation.
“If your horse steps in a gopher hole, it
will break his leg.
If you wander into a
mother moose, you will be in trouble.
Either
way, you just killed a lot of protected flowers.
Stay on the path.”
And with that he moved forward so I could
fall in line behind him. Over time and many trips he taught me that avalanches often happen when people who
don’t understand the mountain wander from approved areas, that rock climbers,
the good ones, follow established routes so they don’t destroy the rock face,
and that every person who carves their name on a tree is scarring nature for
all those who will come after them.
Emerson’s
words don’t resonate with my father.
Instead of inspiration he sees soil erosion and dangerous emergency
rescues of fools who have wandered off a safe path.
Furthermore, according to Emerson, no one is
allowed to follow the trail anyone else left.
Even if it is an amazing trail.
Ultimately,
if everyone is heading off where there is no path and leaving trails, the
entire world will be one
really wide dirt
road.
In education there is so much pressure to blaze a trail,
start a new program, be the first to figure out a new technology.
If we heed RW Emerson, there is little
collaboration and certainly no ability to follow an amazing innovation someone
else created.
