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A burning man ranger is…

Someone, who like a beacon in a sand storm, guides travelers with “the way”, in this case with the core principles of the event that it was founded on that represent a belief system, a code of conduct, an ethos, a way of being and doing. I have heard the phrase “defenders” of this or that, and while I don’t disagree with that I like the term “ambassador” better, but in this case I mean to say not an ambassador of a place but of a way of being. But ambassador is not to say I just represent something like a walking billboard; no, I think of something active like trying to teach someone in my host country how to speak a language or understand a custom. I love the phrase taught to me by many others called “teaching moments” because it is those collections of teaching moments we share with participants that passes on the institutional knowledge we have learned and represent as ambassadors. But that is only part of it, because

A burning man ranger is…

Someone who is there to help our citizens feel and in many cases be safe in our temporary city that is not a lawless society as the 2009 report unfortunately highlighted all to well; but imagine our city without the Rangers as a buffer and first-line-of-defense…my imagination wonders to a very unhappy martial law situation that would quickly lose appeal to our citizens. So, in a way, if we are “defenders” we are defenders of a bit of freedom, and responders in those cases where someone has stepped too far outside their own (or someone else’s) comfort zone and needs help to deal with the results of stretching their or someone else’s boundaries. So, perhaps it’s fair to say we are a safety patrol that I have heard some say, but I don’t have bandaids in my toolbox (not intending to insult the value of green dots and medical personnel this is just shorthand); I have mediation skills and principles and a network of experienced fellow rangers who can supplement my on the job training with a simple call. But, it’s still missing something to think that a Ranger is an ambassador out on safety patrol because that is about doing. And to me the question wasn’t really about what does a Ranger do, but what “is” a Ranger.

A burning man ranger is…

Someone, who for it seems there are as many reasons as there are active rangers, is on a quest to learn about and embrace “OTHER” in the broadest sense of the word. The collaborative way, flame, and i’m sure there are many other frameworks I haven’t been introduced to yet (or remember) seem to talk a lot about BEING in a way that honors others and value others and respects others and listen’s to other and draws strength from others. IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU. Had I even thought that once during the first 44 years of my life I would have been so much better of a person for others, and me. There are so many self destructive things I have thought and done all because I kept thinking it was all about me. me. me. me. Now, as I write this I think but what the hell does “it is not all about you” have to do with being a Ranger? EVERYTHING. The better I am at practicing that simple realization the better I am able to render assistance IF it is even needed and WHEN it is best applied. The more I keep myself on that path…and yes I believe it is a path of enlightenment as corny as that sounds…the better Ranger I am. And the better person I am. So a burning man ranger, to me, is a path of enlightenment about others, and through that about me.

How do you explain it to others who ask…

I stumble and try to say that I represent the core principles of the event while out patrolling our great city to help increase the safety and well-being of our citizens while trying my best to not make it all about me.

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