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  1. #61
    Hiker bigcranky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KCNC View Post
    I'm more inclined to epic poetry than songs. More apropos for an Epic Journey, IMHO.

    Is that OK?
    Yes, but beware that I might set it to music.
    Ken B
    'Big Cranky'
    Our Long Trail journal

  2. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by nsherry61 View Post
    , there is myopic arrogance inferred in the grafiti and that is certainly something that I hope is not ubiquitous on the trail. If it is, it's one more reason to hike elsewhere.
    well a couple of people got the point, even if they didnt feel as strongly about it as i did.

  3. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by Puddlefish View Post
    Did Twig kick your puppy? Do you know Twig personally, do you know what he or she went through in life that brought them to a laundromat along the AT? What he/she might have overcome? What their story is? Did it ruin your hike?
    would you be friends, even in a passing way while out for a hike, with a person or persons who demanded to be revered by you? the definition of revere being- "respect tinged with awe"?

    i wouldnt. you want to hang around with people of that mind set, go for it.

    it doesnt matter what his/her stpry is, or what they overcame. i'm not in awe of anyone who demands that i be in awe of them. not even if they have done something more worthy than take a strange 6 month vacation.

  4. #64
    Registered User Last Call's Avatar
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    Thru-hikers are very much deserving of respect and reverence; many times I have sat around a campfire listening to them holding forth, they just have an air of majesty about them.....
    Let's head for the roundhouse; they can't corner us there!

  5. #65

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    Quote Originally Posted by tdoczi View Post
    would you be friends, even in a passing way while out for a hike, with a person or persons who demanded to be revered by you? the definition of revere being- "respect tinged with awe"?

    i wouldnt. you want to hang around with people of that mind set, go for it.

    it doesnt matter what his/her stpry is, or what they overcame. i'm not in awe of anyone who demands that i be in awe of them. not even if they have done something more worthy than take a strange 6 month vacation.
    You have rather flawed logic. No one ever has demanded that you revere them for being a thru hiker. We have partial evidence based on your report, that one person felt the thru hiking experience was something rather special to him or herself, and seemingly wanted to extend that good feeling to other thru hikers. That one person demanded nothing of you. In my limited few months on the trail, I've never once run into a hiker who demanded that I revere them for being a thru hiker.

    I have been impressed (I'm not easily awed) by quite a few hikers, based on their relative age, based on various things that they overcame to get on the trail. Again, there was no demanding involved. They just told their stories and I listened. Not one so much as asked me to be impressed by their thru hiker status.

    I'm an atheist. I have been annoyed that hikers, and more often "trail angels" have asked me to revere their sky wizard. Evangelical types. Dependent on the degree of their insistence, yes, I was able to put my annoyance aside and be friendly for an hour or a day, because there was more to them as a human than their annoying evangelicalism. They had other aspects of their personality.

    There was one guy on my three month hike I absolutely hated, and I actively needed to avoid. He, in fact, demanded that I revere his god, he chastised me that I wouldn't play along with his "quiet while we say Grace" crap. He used manners as a bludgeon, to push his views and demand respect for his goofy beliefs. He used his religion in a negative way to tear down women in general, to tear down his wife specifically, and to denigrate heathens, to denigrate Muslims in general. I was stuck in a hostel for a zero day, and it was very difficult to avoid him. He barged in on conversations, he refused to listen to anyone else and he just preached non stop.

    So, yes. I could see why you might be upset if a thru hiker actually behaved in a similar manner, and ruined your hike for a few minutes, or an hour, or a day. However from the story you told us, the logic just doesn't indicate that happened at all. One person left a goofy quote on a wall, a quote that demanded nothing, that you've blown out off all proportion. That you've chosen to interpret in the least flattering way. That you've chosen to use as evidence that thru hikers are part of some kind of some entitled class who have way too much pride, and that pride offends you for some reason.

    People brag about things all the time. (I react differently based on the circumstances) I got a new convertible, I've always wanted one (Good for you, you realized a dream... that I don't really care about.) I have a great grand baby! (That's wonderful... please don't make me look at pictures of the little potato.) I learned to walk again after my horrific accident (I'm genuinely impressed!) I beat my depression, got in shape, saved for years, and I'm trying to thru hike the AT! (Hey, that's great, it's good to have goals)

    The backstory matters. The individual matters. If the backstory doesn't matter to you, then that's kind of a shame, because you're missing out on interacting with a lot of great people over a single issue.

  6. #66
    Registered User Last Call's Avatar
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    Very disappointed in the way this thread has evolved....why not respect the thru-hikers? Just imagine what the AT would be like without them
    Let's head for the roundhouse; they can't corner us there!

  7. #67
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    Once, many years back, I was staying in a hostel in New Orleans. While trying to sleep in that raucous, uncomfortable place, I saw a piece of graffito on the bunk bed frame above me that really resonated with my thoughts at the time and seems oddly apropos to this thread:

    "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
    "I am learning nothing in this trivial world of [humans]. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news." --John Muir

  8. #68
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    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    Insert your favorite store.

    I used to walk through Barneys on Madison Ave (my wife worked there) and I'm thoroughly convinced I was below average. I don't think I'll be hobnobbing with the Seinfelds or the Springsteens or the Von Furstenbergs anytime soon.

    My quibble is with the notion that "everybody is above average" ..... the "Gold Stars all 'round" mindset.
    I hear you about "everybody is above average" and "gold stars all around". Personally I like Walmart and go there a lot, maybe that says something about where I fit on the intelligence bell curve. It is a great place to people watch. Every now and then you run into a real Wal-Martian as I call them because they must be from another planet.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    Insert your favorite store.

    I used to walk through Barneys on Madison Ave (my wife worked there) and I'm thoroughly convinced I was below average. I don't think I'll be hobnobbing with the Seinfelds or the Springsteens or the Von Furstenbergs anytime soon.

    My quibble is with the notion that "everybody is above average" ..... the "Gold Stars all 'round" mindset.
    You don't have the stupidest family in the world, you don't have the goofiest family in the world. And if you ever need to verify that, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Five minutes at a fair, you'll be going, "You know what? We're all right. We're dang near royalty!" - Jeff Foxworthy.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  10. #70
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    Quote Originally Posted by Puddlefish View Post
    You have rather flawed logic. No one ever has demanded that you revere them for being a thru hiker.
    expected? deemed themselves worthy of? demanded is probably slightly too strong of a word, doesnt change the point.

    as one of the first people who responded said- reverence is something others bestow upon you, not something you decide you are worthy of. one can easily see that deciding you are, even if you in fact are, might negate that state.

  11. #71
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    Quote Originally Posted by Last Call View Post
    Very disappointed in the way this thread has evolved....why not respect the thru-hikers? Just imagine what the AT would be like without them
    i'll respect them the same as i respect any other person.

    i won't be in awe of them because they are attempting a thru hike.

  12. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by Last Call View Post
    Very disappointed in the way this thread has evolved....why not respect the thru-hikers? Just imagine what the AT would be like without them
    respect for what? they're just walkin'. they ain't a "thru-hikers" til they're through at either end. the AT would be a lot less trashed if there weren't so many of them

  13. #73
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    respect for what? they're just walkin'. they ain't a "thru-hikers" til they're through at either end. the AT would be a lot less trashed if there weren't so many of them
    Amen

    Successful thru hikers are no more than the top 20% of the unemployed bums who didn't have anything else better to do with their lives.

  14. #74

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    Quote Originally Posted by Last Call View Post
    Very disappointed in the way this thread has evolved....why not respect the thru-hikers? Just imagine what the AT would be like without them
    The trail itself is not concerned with hikers of different ambitions any more than the sea is concerned with sailors having different ambitions. It just is.

  15. #75

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    Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
    The trail itself is not concerned with hikers of different ambitions any more than the sea is concerned with sailors having different ambitions. It just is.
    this ^^^^^ nice analogy.

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