Topic: The Initiation

[piersdad]

Picture a 5 year old boy in a village deep in the urawera bush
There were only 40 houses in the village and the boys there were more or less loose knit groups .
I desperately wanted to be one of the groups and one day a friend said that to belong you had to go and visit the ‘cave’
OK that seemed simple enough so with the friend as a guide we disappeared deep in the bush and soon I heard a tremendous rushing sound of very rapid water.
Oh wow there was this huge ravine filled with ferocious water traveling at break neck speed some 20 feet below, the steep sides were covered with green moss and the rocks were wet and slippery.

I was very apprehensive and said where are these caves.
My friend, the same age as me, pointed to a cliff face that seemed to have very little to hold on to. Scared as I was I was determined to see the cave and as my friend showed me the special places to get hand holds we edged along the sheer cliff face not daring to look down at the water and certain death.
Soon we came to the difficult part as small horizontal crack in the cliff that only a small boy of 6 could fit and crawl along with out falling.
Now wonder the adults did not know of our cave it would be impossible due to the dense bush and other things for any person bigger than a 5 year old boy to get to the cave.
At the end of the groove in the cliff was another surprise a drop to some flat rocks and up to onto a small ledge and there in front of me were two supple-jack vines to hang onto and was able to lower myself on to the next ledge and then the easy part to the cave in the side of the sheer cliff.
By this time I was trembling with sheer fright as I realized I had to go back the same way.
The cave was full of stalactites and after a short explore we edged our way back along the cliff making sure that every hand and foot hold was secure as to slip any where in the 20 meter climb was certain death.
Back in the dense bush I was elated. I had done what only 3 boys in the village had done and was still alive.
As we exited from the bush we were met by two very anxious mothers and as I proudly related to my mum where I had been I got the biggest, first, and last hiding in my life.
Since that day I have never been scared of anything, as I knew that if I make sure of every step, I would be safe.
Sixty years on I had almost forgotten this escapade till I was sitting in the Christchurch airport and looking at a poster of a New Zealand bush and ravine scene and gradually I realized there was the slippery flat topped rocks the horizontal groove, and yes even the two vines at the end of the last climb and the dark patch, yes I knew what was around that corner and only 3 people in N Z knew about it.
I flew out of the air port to a school reunion and of all the people who were there at the school reunion, was the special playmate, who was the other person who knew about our secret cave of 60 years ago.
I said “remember the first time we went to the cave ‘
“ Sure do “he said ”it was my first time too”
 

[dbackfan]

Kay, I just re-read your very exciting story about the cave and felt the tingle of danger all over again.  What a great story.  Your sensory images and descriptive details are so powerful that a reader is pulled right in there beside you.  Looks as if you've made a few changes as well.  I really think you should try to get it published, first on its own merit in a magazine, and later as part of a collection or your short stories.  An anthology title could be something like Growing Up in New Zealand, or The Education of an Inventor, or ? 

Keep writing!  (like you have time, right? but your insights into life are so full of beauty and humor they are a treasure to the lucky reader who comes in contact with them)

Terri

[piersdad]

this forum has been the incentive to do just that a sort of life of an inventor thing
ive learned so many new skills in the past 67 years it a pity to not write about it.
my new situation  whaen the wife gets home will help me to consetrate on a proper book

I just re-read your very exciting story about the cave and felt the tingle of danger all over again

what do you think it does to me when i re read it

[sandycampbell]

Ohh to be a kid and do such things. 

[Cran]

Yes indeed!

I was too young to appreciate the drama and adventure of living on the side of a dormant volcano near Rabaul (the one that blew up years later) - but I still have the scar on my upper lip from a rather long fall down one steep side, when our house-boy  Yasm, ran to the house calling "Misses! Misses! Young massa, he go!"
My mother said his eyes were like dinner plates; she replied, "Go? Go where?"
Yasm pointed to the air over the side of the volcano. "He go!"
They found me in an old 44-gallon drum which had fallen down some years before and been caught in the branches of a local bush - the only injury was the cut on my upper lip... had I missed falling into the drum, it would have been a rather rapid trip to the outskirts of Rabaul ... 

[piersdad]

cran your fall is similar to sollyRs story 'free fall'

[Cran]

Well, I'd better check it out, then ... 

[Cran]

I finally found the image I was looking for - it was hidden in my computer files after all ... meet Yasm!  (and that's me, with less height, and less hair)

[click on thumb for full image]
this was before the 'fall' - the wall of foliage was a line of cuttings (hibiscus, I think), and the drop is just beyond them ... my parents planted the cuttings there to build a kind of natural fence to keep me in ... didn't work 

[piersdad]

its amazing what people at toddler age remember
i shudder what the now adult minds are like of children that had been abused in their very early age.
they will, in adulthood, remember things long forgotten and the memories will haunt them.
and possibly this would explaine the repeated cycle of abuse we see in society now.

[Cran]

possibly this would explaine the repeated cycle of abuse we see in society now.

That is certainly the view of many health professionals; however, for every abused child who grows up and becomes an abuser there are two (I think that's the ratio now, might be 3) who do not ... but they may well harbour an intense distrust of any adult ... fortunately enough victims have moved past that and turned their efforts to changing the society, so that:
1. the problems are no longer hidden or dismissed;
2. the victims can seek help and sanctuary;
3. there is now a concerted community effort to break the cycle.

In a few generations, these long-entrenched cultures of abuse may become history. 

[piersdad]

i do hope so
we brought up several foster kids and your ratio of 2 to 1 would be correct
a lot depends on adult experiences
some  just get on with life while others dwell on the past and drop into a downward spiral of depression  and drugs
 

[Cran]

i do hope so
we brought up several foster kids and your ratio of 2 to 1 would be correct
a lot depends on adult experiences
some  just get on with life while others dwell on the past and drop into a downward spiral of depression  and drugs
 

Yes, and "there but for the grace of others, go I" ...

[Bird Lover]

piersdad, I can imagine the fear, overtaken by sheer determination and childlike bravado, that the initiation indelibly marked you with.  I'm just happy you are here to tell us this story!!