What if Uncertainty IS the Point?
Whoever made the (very short) list about the only two things that are certain - death and taxes - forgot an important one. Uncertainty itself. Even in an age that allows me access to mountains of historical information and predictions with the click of a link, certainty is elusive. Professional counselors tell me that it’s this uncertainty that leads to anxiety which is the root cause of the concerns we see with the social emotional health of young people. Philosophers and phenomenologists might tell you that felt uncertainty is the basis of our consciousness, a heady concept that lets us recognize us as us. Whatever school you subscribe to, it’s clear to me that we all would do well to find a way to accept the mystery.
What if uncertainty is the point?
In one of the larger mistakes I made early in my career, I acceded to a local camp parent’s request to introduce her son to his counselor before his Camp session. (He was attending a late summer session.) The meeting went well enough, if not a bit awkward as his mother hovered and directed the conversation. But all went south when we had to (for a variety of reasons) change his cabin group before he arrived. It was a setback he never recovered from, and the parent was incensed! I can’t recall if he went home early, but I know he never returned. Everything he thought he knew about the experience he was embarking on changed, and he never recovered. I have always felt that he would have done just fine meeting his (eventual) counselor on opening day, just like everyone else.
I have come to believe that “tolerable uncertainty” is, perhaps, the real point of Camp. Sure, we have to know something about the experience beforehand. How do I choose my activities, what is the food like, where will my fellow campers be coming from, are all things that are helpful to know ahead of time. Knowing what the food is “like” is a long way from knowing what’s for lunch on the 6th day of the session! Think of missing out on the joy of surprise when you walk into the dining hall to see grilled cheese and tomato soup, a camper favorite that often leads to a whoop-whoop! If everything at Camp was uncertain, I don’t believe it would work. There has to be a baseline of comfort and knowing what to expect, but if everything about a camp experience was “certain”, I don’t believe that would work, either.
Finding the Growth!
I can attest that, as a parent, I often worked to quell the uncertainty in our children’s lives. But as I watched them grow, and reflected on what I’ve learned by watching campers develop, I have come to accept not knowing all is a good thing. It’s not that I, or we at Camp, set out to create uncertainty. That happens quite naturally and often enough. It’s just that I have come to appreciate the growth that encountering uncertainty, and persevering through it, can bring.
With April 15th past and taxes filed for another year, and the other certainty hopefully years away, I am left with the third, unspoken one for the foreseeable future. And I take great comfort in knowing that in this, I am not alone. I do know that Camp begins on June 14th this year, and I will take every day between now and then to prepare for all that I will come to know!
