Kayla Delaguila- Outside Reading

I have been reading the book Lame Deer Seeker of Visions by John Fire (Lame Deer). It is such an amazing book; in fact, reading this book is part of the reason I decided to write my research paper on Vision Quests. The book focuses mainly on Lame Deer’s vision quest and what exactly he went through. This is remarkable to find in a book because there are very few books that discuss what people actually go through on Vision Quests. Actually, there are very few books on the Quest itself since it is such an individual thing; often it is hard to explain to other people. I had heard my family talk about their experiences on the quest for years, and this book does such a great job of really bringing it to life. Lame Deer spends some time talking about how lonely he got while he was out there. How he felt like everyone he loved had just left him out there to die. I found an easy comparison to life here. I feel like we all have times that we feel alone, and like everyone that loves us have left us. On a vision quest you are really just forced to face that feeling head-on. In facing it though, as Lame Deer and others have seen, you become a stronger individual. Someone who maybe does not need a constant support system. Although, I think we can all agree it is nice to have a net to fall back on. That raises a question though. When people claim to be powerful, independent people, how true is that realistically? Is there anyone that you know that truly never asks a friend for advice, or maybe simply for a hug? In my opinion, humans are social creatures; we rely on each other to make it through our lives. I claim to be a strong, independent person, but I know that in reality, I need certain people in my life to help me through.

*edit* In class on Tuesday Dr. Redick talked about the indian named Ishy in California. I think this fits indirectly well with my topic of humans being social creatures. Ishy was alone for years and then went crazy. He was a strong man too, he survived being hunted better then anyone else in his tribe did. If this doesn't prove my everybody needs a friend theory then I don't know what will.