On Arrogance and Hubris

I'm all for the amazing creations of humanity. I'm just waiting for a few changes in the iPhone and I'll be a happy boy. I've always loved that people love to create new things.

Some days though, it's important to realize that what we may think of as a great invention of mankind, is really not so much an invention of man, but our discovery of an idea from nature.

In this case, I'm talking about barbed wire, the great and simple invention that helps with so much modern security and more importantly, large scale animal husbandry. It's great stuff. It's also not original. Wikipedia says (and when Wikipedia speaks, it's in a booming voice from above) that a man, Joseph F. Glidden, created barbed wire.

I hate to disagree with the Grand Wiki, but Joseph may have made the first metal barbed wire, but Mother Nature invented it, and she made it in the Ozarks. I don't know what this plant is, and I don't care really. I know what I need to know, stay away, and that this is an evil plant. It likes to grow in vines, often horizontal vines. And it somehow seems to live with few to no leaves. A plant that has no leaves is like a man who doesn't pee, the deal with the devil is in the beast.

Suffice it to say, this evil plant, had it's way with me, especially the first few days. The photo of my leg is from my 2nd of 4 days in the wild. I never did a final count of the number of cuts I got, 30 to 50 per leg sounds about right, plus some on my arms and the cuts pictured aren't the deepest of them either.

The Ozarks are like a beautiful woman (aren't all wonderful things?), she's beautiful, but dangerous, and she must be treated with the care and respect she deserves.

I have learned.