On Friday, November 4, 2011 Brendan and I had the tremendous opportunity to go and listen to a motivational/leadership talk by Polar Explorer Eric Larsen. Eric gave the talk as a fundraiser for the Kawartha Trans Canada Trail Association in Lindsay, Ontario. Eric has accomplished numerous cold weather expeditions and has made his love for such pursuits his career. In 2009, Eric completed an expedition he called “Save the Poles”, in which Eric traveled to the North Pole, South Pole and the Summit of Everest and he did so all in one year! In doing so, Eric became the sixteenth person to accomplish this feat and the only person in history to manage this undertaking within a year. The achievement is truly astounding. Eric undertakes these expeditions to create awareness for environmental conditions affected by global warming through showcasing the incredible changes that are occurring even at our world’s most remote and desolate locations. Now, regardless of your views and opinions on global warming and its cause, I would hope that we all could at least agree that, regarding the burning of fossil fuels, there are better options for our own personal health, even if we ignore the potential impact on the earth. For that reason alone I think it is worth applauding Eric’s work. It is a known fact that the world has been far warmer than it presently is, however, it is my understanding that the earth has never heated as rapidly as it currently is and it is this rapid change that certain ecosystems and aspects of nature are unable to adapt to in such a swift time frame. It is these concerns that Eric is showcasing through his work. His expeditions are absolutely phenomenal and worth taking a look at. I truly enjoyed the presentation. Eric made the experience very interactive. At different points throughout the presentation both Brendan and I were up at the front for demonstrations along with other spectators. I think it is reasonable to presume that everyone in attendance found the talk worth their while. After the presentation ended and the last individuals had finished speaking with the polar explorer, Brendan and I had the tremendous opportunity to speak with Eric in person. We shared our dream of the Great Canadian Ascent with him. Shaking Eric’s hand and speaking with him about our expedition was truly a terrific experience. Although I am certain he was busy and had places to go, not once did he make us feel as though we were holding him up or that he was uninterested. He sat down for a number of minutes with us and simply allowed us to share our dream with him. He even offered some of his experience and skills to help us along in these initial stages trying to get the expedition off the ground. Upon our departure Eric informed us he was traveling to Antarctica the following week. I have never heard anyone end a conversation that way and I loved it! You can follow Eric at http://savethepoles.com/ What I personally took away from Eric’s talk the most was a portion of his talk in which he spoke about “Risk versus Benefit”. As you can imagine such a topic relates quite significantly to aspects of the Great Canadian Ascent, but even aside from that, I have always found this a fascinating subject to hear outdoor professionals speak about. It has always been something intriguing to me. Eric maintained that our society is too focused on success. He commented, of course, that success itself is not bad thing. However, Eric suggested that we tend to fear failure so greatly that we refrain from taking risks predominantly for fear of not succeeding at that which we are attempting. We seem unable to recognize the benefits and lessons that can be learned from failure. That is not to say that we should aim to fail in our endeavors. It simply means that far too often we settle for an average effort from ourselves. We settle for the things we know with complete certainty that we can succeed at, rather than attempting something that holds the potential for failure. We often forget to realize that these aspirations also hold the potential to succeed far greater if we chance the risk in comparison to not taking the risk at all and simply put forth an average effort. Although the respective decisions hold the potential for failure, therein also lies the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. Eric was able to put into words a feeling and emotion I had been trying to verbalize for years. I agree entirely with what he said and thought he did a magnificent job at shedding light on the topic. Now, I am not suggesting or advocating that everyone leaps up and goes looking for a profound risk taking opportunity. Rather, I am encouraging that we allow this concept to simply soak into our consciousness as we go about our daily activities. I am suggesting that we take the time to grasp the profoundness of our decisions and choices throughout the day and their affect on our future and the future of those we love. It is my hope that we do not allow ourselves to fall into a stupor of indifference regarding the potential outcomes of our lives. I think it is important to view each day as a gift, as hard as that can be at times, and leave nothing on the table. That is not to say that we should all desire to be pro athletes, the Prime Minister or the next great thing, however, if you do aspire to these things, I hope you make the most of it. Instead, I believe we should aim to be the best we can with the opportunities presented to us. I also believe that we should pursue our dreams and ambitions; whatever they might be. They can be to learn to cook, write a book, play an instrument, score a strike in bowling, become a husband or wife, father or mother, get your driver’s license, travel, become a priest, religious sister or brother or other member of religious life, get up earlier, build something or just take some time for yourself throughout your week. Regardless of what your ambitions are, whether they seem significant or insignificant, I think it is important that you make an effort to achieve them. Of course the pursuit of dreams can often be a difficult one. You must always strive to have your priorities straight. It many cases dreams sometimes need to be put on the back burner. That said, there are other times where it would be foolish to do so and you should rightly allow some particular focus to reignite those aspirations. The main message is to hopefully recognize the excitement of life and the potentials therein. That is foundation of the Great Canadian Ascent. That is why Brendan and I are undertaking this expedition. I will leave you with two tremendous quotes that I think highlight this very concept. The first is by Theodore Roosevelt. It is slightly lengthy, but absolutely one of my favourite quotes and I feel it captures a bit of the emotion of the Great Canadian Ascent. The second quote is one that a personal inspirational figure of mine is often heard quoting. Keep adventuring, <>< FRANK “It is not the critic who count: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly […] who, at the best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is often just that little bit of extra”