(0:00) Good morning. It's the 18th day of April, the 17th day of me vlogging everyday in April, and I have continued my spree of geocaching, which is just been really fascinating and I wanted to talk about it a little bit.
(0:09) So, I have this application on my phone and it basically just points me in the direction of things that people have hidden. It's like a map to treasure. Except oftentimes there's not very much actual treasure. I've found about five caches now, which is not a lot. But people live in Missoula who I am geocaching along with have found thousands of these things.
(0:26) But it's really fascinating that there are so many people that are doing it and it reminds me of something that I just generally want to talk about. We, as people, we tend to focus on negative things that happen. Like, you know, one Taco Bell employee comes along and spits in a taco and everyone in the entire world hears about. But what you don't hear about is the eighteen hundred billion tacos that get made at Taco Bells every year, by people who are nice people, and you know, just want a job. And are perfectly happy to make nice tacos for nice people to eat at Taco Bell.
(0:53) Think about this: whenever you go to a restaurant you have a salt shaker on your table. Anyone, anyone could open that salt shaker, spit in it, and then close that salt shaker. Anyone. Anyone could do that and never get caught. But you want to know something funny? That never happens. Because people are nice.
(1:10) And geocaching is all about that, it's about hiding something, and anybody can go find it. People obey the rules of this community because they are part of a community, and when you're part of a community, you are under the obligation to obey the rules of that community. And people rarely break that bond.
(1:28) Sometimes people will do things that, according to one community, is taboo, but that's because they are not in that community. When someone spits in a taco, it's because they are not part of the Taco Bell purchasing-eating community. They are part of a much different community that is based on screwing with people and being, exercising power in ways that you can exercise power.
(1:50) But people who are members of the geocaching community, the amazing things, how very rarely anything goes wrong with this stuff. And you can see the binding of community working in so many different ways. Whether you're talking about soldiers in the army, or if you're talking about women in microfinance programs almost invariably paying back their loans. It's about defining the rules of the community. Defining something that everyone believes in. And if you are a part of that community, and you understand the rules that everyone else in the community believes in, almost invariably, those rules, the rules of the society, the rules of the culture, the rules of the community, do not get broken. Which is very fascinating and very cool. It makes me believe in the world, and believe in communities in a way that I don't think you can, without understanding that.
(2:37) So that's what I wanted to talk about, because that's what geocaching was making me think about. It's great to go out there and find things in these caches and trade and like, record your discovery in the logbook and then re-hide it, and it's all done, like it never happened. People who are walking five feet away will never, ever know that that thing is there, it is a thrill of the treasure hunt and I'm very excited to be a little bit of a part of it, and I hope to continue finding caches as I move forward in life.
(3:05) And I have to now edit this video, so I am out. Thank-you for hanging out, and I will talk to you tomorrow.
