" No One Is Dead" written by Allan Priddy.
Allan Priddy
was a larger-than-life man, as amazing as the folk heroes in tall tales he told
around campfires. A glacier in Antarctica is named after him, a fitting tribute
for a man whose heart was as big as a mountain range.
He was a
master builder, a woodcarving artist, a dynamic story teller, a compelling
writer, an inspiring teacher, and a humanitarian. From the Arctic Circle to
Antarctica, he shared his expertise, teaching carpentry, camping and hunting
skills, and wilderness survival. He volunteered countless hours leading Boy
Scouts, teaching older adults, raising funds for the homeless, and building
Habitat for Humanity homes. He lives on in the gifts he gave of himself to
everyone. Gifts that are still giving. Here’s his story “No One Is Dead,” written on 11-17-2017.
No one is dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.
It is a profound thought
that whoever or however you touch the world would keep on rippling across life, like the ripples caused on a pond by a pebble. But the truth is those
ripples do radiate out in a course of time and have more and more energy the
farther out they travel.
So what if your profound impact
on the world loses a little bit of energy as each subsequence generation passes
it on. Still a person should not fret or stew about that impact
losing energy in each subsequent generation it is passed on to. What matters is how many lives
you’ve impacted directly.
It was said about school teachers: teach one apple but each apple has many seeds.
I would love to think that all of
us send ripples in all directions. These ripples touch others here and
there and may miss you or others. These ripples continue to radiate
farther out, no matter how many people they touch or miss.
I, for one, know that I helped build
13 Idaho Habitat for Humanity homes, and I helped make a better home for all these
families. But to this day I have never heard back about any of these
families, though I know in two of the houses there are now infant children who
must be the children of the children who lived there when I built the
house. The ripples of life are still radiating out.
Years later, you go into a business
and hear someone say, “I took your Class 25 Years Ago.” I used to teach survival so
I must conclude that they have survived at least 25 years— hopefully, in part, because they learned
how to survive from me.
I sort of think ripples are passed on to your children, grand-children and great
grand-children. But for me I chose not to have children, I believe there
are enough screwed up kids in the world without me adding to it.
But I would like to say I helped
some of my students. I taught survival to Idaho State University
Geologic Field Station Students for 30 years. I’ve taught Primitive Survival at
Rabbit Stick (A gathering of Survivalists teaching their ways in Idaho). For 40
years I taught students to be better carpenters. I have been involved with
Habitat for Humanity, where I’ve run crews for over 20 years, always leading
and teaching.
Those ripples we cause in the
world will not always be obvious but that doesn’t mean they are not there. Nor
should we quit trying to send positive ripples out into the world.
(Note from the transcriber –
Allan’s ripples still resonate worldwide – from pole to pole, Iceland to Idaho
he has been influential in thousands of lives, and subsequent thousands of
other lives, with subsequent actions and interactions. Yes indeed, he
still lives and is not dead.)
Transcribed by Cathy M. 2/8/2022
