[pct-l] PCT Rituals

[hiker97 at aol.com]

I was thinking that we need more rituals and hiking tribe standards on the trail.  For example, we we greet each other on the trail, we should have hiking business cards to exchange with email addresses, etc.  This would create unity and the card weight would only be a fraction for the good it would do and friendships it would generate.

Even in the animal kingdom, there are rituals.  For example, did you ever wonder why you never see dead penguins in documentaries of Antarctica?  It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic.  These birds live an extremely ordered and complex life.  The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.

The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing: "Freeze a jolly good fellow! Freeze a jolly good fellow!"  Then they kick him in the ice hole.

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Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, cough, burp, "pardon".  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.  Switchback strikes again.