Unlocking the Fierce Obsession: Why That Camp Counselor Still Fuels Our Fire Years Later
Camp counselors are a few years older than you, and you’re inexplicably put in their hands with minimal oversight once a year. They teach you how to perform physical feats like shooting a bow and arrow or piloting a kayak, sometimes by putting their hands on you to correct your form. They aren’t necessarily tan, but probably. They glow, in any event, with all the hale and hearty vigor of people who spend most of their time being athletic in the sun. They mediate the fight, they kill the wasp. They know they’re meant to be in charge of you, and so they imitate adult authority as best they can. But because they’re so young, their imitations take on an uncanny quality that only makes them more alluring. It’s hard to exercise adult authority while wearing a camp uniform and capturing a flag. You obey your parents and teachers because they can wield real power over you if you don’t; you obey a camp counselor because you’re in love.
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