[pct-l] thrus behaving badly

[Scott Herriott]

Exccceeelllenntt post David.  Bravo.













Squatch
www.walkpct.com




--- David Plotnikoff <david at emeraldlake.com> wrote:

> Hello from a longtime list lurker.
> 
> I respectfully disagree with the person who said the
> thread on the 
> Hikertown contretemps should cease immediately.
> 
> With the Class of 2008 massing in Campo, the timing
> could not be 
> better for a broad community airing of the issue. I
> hope that can be 
> accomplished without ad hominem attacks on one
> individual, though.
> 
> As I've said before, in this forum and other places
> (including Yogi's 
> book), every PCT hiker's town karma is
> interconnected. The decisions 
> you make in town and your interactions with trail
> angels and 
> merchants have wide ripples of impact far beyond
> yourself.
> 
> I've watched for maybe five years now as the growing
> sense of 
> "entitlement" has taken root in some members of each
> year's class. 
> (OK, now I'm getting up and approaching the
> soapbox....) You should 
> expect *nothing* from the world beyond the trail.
> Every gift, every 
> small act of kindness you receive is a *blessing*.
> And it behooves 
> you to treat it as such -- with humility and
> gratitude. Any sense of 
> "entitlement" is grossly misplaced. You do not have
> a "right" to 
> demand to stay in someone's house, eat their food,
> use them as a taxi 
> service, etc.
> 
> As for dealings with merchants and lodging staff in
> town, it makes me 
> want to go chew rocks every time I hear of a bad
> scene -- many of 
> which have been well-documented over the years from
> Cascade Locks to 
> Idyllwild. The idea that a handful of arrogant or
> thoughtless people 
> could poison the well for the entire community
> should make YOU very 
> angry as well.
> 
> It is a tremendous frustration that the PCT
> community has not evolved 
> a way to police the bad actors in our own midst.
> This weekend at Lake 
> Morena, I hope there will be a strong and spirited
> discussion that 
> really hammers the message home: If you act like a
> thoughtless jerk, 
> there will be a severe social sanction to pay.
> 
> The last time I checked, the back of the thru-hike
> permit is blank. 
> In coming years maybe we have to print some
> guidelines for proper 
> behavior on the back.
> 
> Oh, and one last thing: Would it kill you to send
> some thank-you 
> postcards from up the trail to the people who showed
> you love? It's a 
> small gesture, but an important one.
> 
> Oh, and tipping. Yes. 20 percent, minimum. You're
> one of the most 
> lucky, most free human beings on the planet. And
> someone -- who's 
> probably working for minimum wage in a depressed
> small town -- has to 
> do the dishes and clean the bathroom.
> 
> And gas money. Every hitch.
> 
> That lady from Kansas got it: "You KNOW it's the
> right thing to do."
> 
> (climbing off soapbox now, grumbling...)
> 
> David Plotnikoff
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