Woodland Worldwide is based on promoting equality for all people. In order to do this, the group needed to create leadership skills, and become friends in order to do the work we will do throughout the year, so we went zip lining at Empower Leadership Sports and Adventure Center. I expected hours of zip lining, and, with my luck, the line snapping after my first run. Oh boy, I was wrong.
Putting the harnesses on, and staring up at the line resulted in a melting pot of building emotions. First, I was so excited; I just wanted to face all of my emotions, and do it, but then, I thought, "What if I die?", Of course, before I could just get it over with, but we had to learn about zip lining safety and technique. The gist of the zip lining lesson was this: stay on the line, and do not look down. It seemed simple enough. After this lesson, we were all strapped into harnesses, (no turning back now) and it was time to zip line.
A shaky ladder brought lead us up to an unstable, wavy platform attached to a pole. It occurred to me that being anxious about zip lining was unnecessary. It was the shaky ladder that would be my demise. Every time someone moved on the ladder, everyone nervously laughed to conceal their complete terror that we were all going to drop 75 feet in the air. In hindsight, I think the shaky ladder may have been planted to accelerate the “team building” part of the field trip. Nothing bonds people together like a near death experience.
One by one, we were off. Each person had a louder scream than the last. As I listened to these screams, I wondered if there was still time to turn back. Before I could fully consider this option, it was my turn. A cheerful bearded man hooked me onto the line, and it was time to go.
The first moment was not nearly as scary as I anticipated, after an initial rush of adrenaline, it was smooth sailing. I felt confident enough to throw caution to the wind, and look down to the ground (the very thing I was specifically advised not to do), and it was quite a drop. A simple fleeting thought popped into my head, “it would be really bad if this dropped”.
As you can assume by the fact that I am writing this editorial (which I would not be able to do with two broken arms) it did not drop. I successfully arrived at the next platform to the cheers of fellow Woodland Worldwide members. A sense of accomplishment overcame me, and I let out my own celebratory cheer, which was stifled by fear.
On the other side, we were all talking about our shared experience. We were all laughing, and talking about the internal screaming going through our mind, and before we knew it, it was time to zip again.
After the next platform, we reached an unusual obstacle; a fork in the road, persey. You had the choice of going down a bridge, or scaling a net. The bridge seemed so easy, so obviously, I did that one. Well, the first step in and the bridge sunk like the Titanic. I nearly had a panic attack. Each step, the bridge seemed to sway a bit more, but I did it. I made it to the other platform, and with a wipe of my forehead, I was ready for the next obstacle... or so I thought.
This bridge was completely detached from each plank. Each step swaying freely in the breeze, only a series of knots linking each other. Beads of sweat were lining everybody's brows; we thought we took the easy way. It was my turn to walk the bridge, and saying I was nervous would be an understatement. I was screaming things internally that cannot be published in a school newspaper. I held my breath the entire way, and tried to get by as quick as possible. I relied on my arms to do the heavy work; I didn’t trust those planks. I finally got to the other side. Everything else was a piece of cake at this point.
After we got off the ziplining course, we did an activity in which we had to get to connect cement blocks and get to a starting and finishing point, using only ropes, and wood planks. The trick? You can’t touch the ground.
As an incredibly uncreative and unoriginal person, I sank right to the back of this activity. Thankfully, other people stepped up, and took on leadership roles. As a team, we had to complete our task.
It was stressful, and quite frankly, annoying, but the activity helped us learn to work together as a team.
The trip was such an amazing experience for the whole club. Not only did it develop leadership skills, and learning to face our fears, but it built many new friendships, and so many jokes. The entire bus ride home was littered with laughing fits. It’s hard to believe I didn’t know these people prior to our shared near-death experience.