A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Camp - 27 C - PRACTICAL JOKE--NOT SO FUNNY

One of the most frightening experiences we had was one summer when a couple of staff men decided to play a joke on the rest of the staff.   I was in my apartment about a quarter of a block away from the apple orchard where the staff were sleeping.   There was a road that went through the orchard and branched on to a road one way to Sherwood and the other crossing the lake across a dam towards the entrance of the camp at Calvin Crest.  

            It was late at night when most of us had fallen asleep.   All of a sudden we heard this ruckus.   It sounded like gun shots.   The staff jumped out of their beds and saw this truck going very fast through the orchard igniting fire crackers that sounded like bullets.   Thank goodness the orchard was mostly green grass.  As the vehicle left the road to go on to the dam road, someone in the back of the truck dropped a sawhorse.  This slowed down any staff who was trying to catch up to the truck.  They would have to stop to set the sawhorse aside in order to drive through.  Those in the truck got away!

            It took some time to quiet everyone down.  Fortunately no campers were affected.  I was not a happy “camper”!   Needless to say, it was the subject of the following day.  It took some detective work to narrow down those who perpetrated this frightening and dangerous “prank.”   A confession and apology to the entire staff was required as ONE of the consequences of this action.   We always referred to this event as “The War.”

            I had a paragraph in my counselor training book, “Keys to Quality Camping,” on a comparison and result of raids to war.   The staff would laugh and roll their eyes about this paragraph.  Some campers and counselors thought that going to camp meant having raids.   Fun?   I wanted the counselors to work through with the campers the effects that raids have on others.   If we hurt people’s feelings, or destroy someone’s camera or belongings, intentionally or unintentionally, in its extreme it was what war does to people.   The strong outwits the weak.  Over the top—maybe!   Actions result in consequences that invariably affect others sometimes negatively.  Good lessons learned hopefully.