The idea of survival seems to inspire images of a bedraggled individual eating wild roots or berries, snaring squirrels and rabbits, locating hidden springs for water, building a fire by rubbing sticks together. Survival training seems to imply a need to survive for months in the wilds of northern Canada or the Sahara Desert, struggling against the elements with no hope of aid from the outside world. Survival seems to demand knowing how to live off the land.
Is this really modern survival? The fact is, most of us will never be in a position where primitive skills for living off the land are necessary. … Within the continental United States, wilderness areas are criss-crossed with trails, and these areas have shrunk so that even in the most remote places, … a person is never more than a couple days from civilization.
Modern transportation and communication have further diminished the magnitude of wilderness. Prolonged isolation is almost impossible.
…
The dictionary says that to survive means to “remain alive and existent.” Survival, then, is the state of remaining alive
Excerpted from Modern Survival: Outdoor Gear and Savvy to Bring You Back Alive by Dwight R. Schuh (1979)
