BOSS, the ultimate cross-training, a community

The desert, it still lingers, more than three years since I’d completed that 7-day BOSS (Boulder Outdoor Survival School) Field Course in southern Utah. (Yes, that’s Boulder, Utah.) In fact, with the passage of time, that which lingers has become that which beckons.

Since that wondrous, life-changing week (see my previous posts: introduction, physical, mental, spiritual), there have been two significant developments regarding BOSS. First, around the end of 2017, BOSS became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which reflected its long-term focus on education and its origin 50 years ago in an educational institution (Brigham Young University). Second, in 2018, the land on which BOSS is located and which it had been leasing was put on the market for sale. BOSS decided to buy the land and give the school a permanent home. For me, both are very positive developments.

So, when BOSS reached out to alumni and friends to help pay down the loan principal, I was more than happy to contribute to the overall effort. It's analogous to an investment--sort of. Obviously, it’s not ownership in the sense of (legally) owning a part of an entity. But it is ownership in the sense of being a part of that entity and a part of the BOSS extended family, for which the land that BOSS now owns is home away from home. Instead of growth in share value, the ROI here is something much more valuable: growth in self, growth in the BOSS family, and growth in the BOSS mission--all made more possible now by home ownership.

What is the BOSS mission? From its Web site: “The Boulder Outdoor Survival School is dedicated to the instruction and preservation of traditional living skills and the development of people through experiences within the natural world.” One of its core philosophies is “Know more, carry less”—which nicely aligns with my inclination towards minimalism in running. (There—there’s the connection with running! 😊)

For me, implicit in that mission statement is stewardship—a continuous thread that connects individuals to shared communities and connects all to a shared natural world. In this stewardship, BOSS is an oasis. This is especially so, viewed from where I am, where, over the past couple years, dark rancid ugliness has been spewing non-stop from what should be the People’s House. Just one recent example, from almost literally the backyard of BOSS: Breakup and redrawing the boundaries of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (areal reduction of about 50%) and the Bears Ears National Monument (85% reduction). And for what? For some fossil fuel companies to be able to extract more of what needs to be kept in the ground.

So, please contribute—to yourself. Sign up for a field course. Be a part of the community of BOSS.

Be a steward for yourself first. And then be a steward for your shared community and for our shared world. Please join us and help expand and nurture the BOSS community. "Être fort pour être utile"!