Years ago, my husband, Pete, and I made a promise to ourselves: We’d try to give our children the best real-world alternatives to video games and virtual reality we could find because reality itself is so much more fulfilling. To that end, our children have grown up on the trail. Daily lessons are often as blunt as the hard-won objective of simply reaching the next village without incident.
Ancient castles, fortresses, and real-world kings are normal for kids who’ve played amongst crumbling fortress walls that intermingle with cold clouds, echoes of the past tickling us in the driving wind.
If our children stayed at home, those castles and forts would be grand designs crafted from code in video games they play on their devices. Yet today they can work and play amidst the real thing: Tombs of the ancient dead, haul bags filled with faunal and human bones to sort and clean, artifacts hewn from leather, silk, iron, copper, silver, and bronze, some dating as far back as 2800 years.
Nothing in those video games can compare. As parents, we make our choices, whether we allow our children glimpses into our professional lives and our special passions. They, in turn, feel empowered to follow their own dreams, ask their own questions, and seek the truth.
This drive is what makes us human, what pushed the early pioneers to find shelter amongst the world’s most hostile and glorious mountains. These early settlers brought their children with them, because the alternative was unbearable.
On January 4th, 2017, our film, “Secrets of the Sky Tombs,” about our quest to find the first peoples of the Himalaya will air 9pm ET/8 Central on PBS’s NOVA. The film will also be broadcast in the upcoming months on France 5 in France and National Geographic Channel worldwide. It’s been a decade-long endeavor, and we’ll likely continue for another, as unknown caves, more ancient human DNA, and new questions need to be explored.
But if there are “secrets,” (as the film’s title suggests) to be uncovered, they’re the clues to success of a people who foraged for what they could off the land, who found meaning in the struggle, and who relied on their clan and their fellow villagers for the bare essentials to survive. Community and one’s lineage is the secret to strength in times of hardship, in the face of the extremes.
This lesson is not lost on us today.
I hope it will be shown here 😊
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It definitely will, on National Geographic. I just don’t have the airdate yet. Will let you know when I find out!
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How exciting! 👍🏻
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This is very exciting can’t wait till the 4th to see the whole thing.
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Thanks so much Francis! I’m so glad you’ll be tuning in!
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I think this is brilliant. I’ll have to see if we can access the National Geographic channel.
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Thanks, Margaret! I’m hoping it’ll be available soon where you are!
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How wonderful! Really looking forward to tuning in and getting a glimpse in to this wonderful history.
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Thank you, Susie!
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Liesl, We watched your production enraptured. Congratulations on an extraordinary success. The research, the courage, the stamina and the enthusiasm (not to mention the writing and filming) that you put into this film qualify it for the highest documentary awards. Exceptionally well done!
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Thank you so much for watching, Bill! And, it’s so great to hear from you. I appreciate your thoughts as I know you’d do the same amount of research that goes into these things!
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I saw this last night. Amazing. Anything with Pete always is. Loved it!
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