Do the Best You Can With Two Arms

Among the many excuses I could come up with for not getting more done in life, what never comes to mind is the lack of two arms. But for some, like Civil War veteran and American explorer John Wesley Powell, he had that excuse… and did it anyway.

Powell lost his right arm in battle fighting for freedom in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In fact, Powell was affectionately known by some Native Americans as, “One-Arm-Off” after his extended stays with them out West. The experience he had with the Native Americans in modern-day Utah was so profound that he practically dedicated his whole life to it. Unlike other explorers, Powell didn’t carry a gun with him and taught himself their language. He was intensely curious about their culture and never sought to disturb their way of life; rather, he wanted to learn about them. Even when he traveled to a new tribe of warriors that were rumored to have killed his three men, he did not come looking for vengeance. Instead, Powell smoked a pipe with them and talked of their religion, making the peace even after these warriors admitted they killed the men he was looking for. But beyond anthropology, Powell’s adventures would continue in a different way.

After the Civil War, the United States was looking for a way to map out the Western territories and see which areas were suitable for human settlement. To determine this, legislators sponsored geological surveys where explorers would create detailed maps, gather information about natural resources, and explain what was needed for expansion. As you can guess, one of the people responsible for surveying the land was John Wesley Powell.

Powell’s most memorable trip was traveling over half of the length of the Colorado River through the modern-day states of Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. He and a crew of 9 men explored the mostly untouched canyons and made scientific observations along the way for the U.S. government, even battling whitewater rapids that are still challenging today. Only 6 of the men completed the entire journey, with a few leaving midway to try to locate settlements on land. This trip was legendary, partly because he did it with one arm and only a few boats, but also because it had never been done before. It was the first expedition to the Grand Canyon and many other canyons in Utah, and they survived, despite significantly worse technology in the late 1800s. You can see why Powell is cemented in history as an explorer, and why almost a hundred years later, the government named a reservoir after him called Lake Powell.

Most of us will probably not do something that has never been done before in history. Quite frankly, there are fewer of those things even available to complete. This is not to say we shouldn’t try or even search for accomplishments that have not been thought of yet, because that is always a possibility. What we can all do, however, is to do things we have never done before. We can make an adventure out of our own lives. There are a million ways to do this, and reading stories often gives us the inspiration we need to get going or even get the idea.

Everything from having kids to new jobs to traveling the world is a source of adventure. Challenges like races, rock climbing, or digital projects are worth our time if we truly believe they are worthy of it. It’s not necessarily what the challenge is that is important; it’s how important it is to us. What adventure are you choosing to explore? What more can you do to make it happen? No matter how many arms you have, you can make your own adventure.