[pct-l] Karen's Hero

[Reinhold Metzger]

[pct-l] Trail Humor

Fireweed,
Did it ever occur to you that if you consider another person's opposing
political vie a personal attack against you, that perhaps that other
person may have the same opinion about you?
It is best to keep politics out of hiking.
Since you hiked with them for several days you must have enjoyed their
company until politics got involved.

Why must we dislike people of different color, religion or political belief?

I  ASK  YOU  WHY???

A nice person does not suddenly become a nasty person just because you
discover that their political or religious beliefs differ from yours.

I don't care if you are black or white, liberal or conservative, protastant,
catholic, or none believer....it is your character and personality that will
either make me like you or dislike you.
The fact that your political or religious beliefs may disagree with mine will
have no bearing on whether I like or dislike you.
I may disagree with you....but that does not mean I have to dislike you.

I say HYOH....don't preach morality, religion or politics and don't dislike
a person just because their religious or political believes differ from yours.

I know that this statement will probably put me under heavy fire from those
who disagree with me or don't like what I am saying.
But that's OK,...I have been under fire before...the type of fire that comes
out of a barrel.

Say Fireweed, I don't see anything wrong with a man carrying his wife's
or girlfriend's pack....if I am not mistaking it is called "CHIVALRY."
You may, or may not know know what that means, but it was quite common
in the older days.

Hey, I remember my first Mt. Whitney hike in 1968 or 1969 with my wife,
hauling a monster pack and wearing combat boots.

BTW...you ain't "Hard-Core" until you hiked Whitney in combat boots.

I was a bad a$$ recently discharged Marine "Grunt" used to hauling heavy
packs and treating my women right.
It went against my grain to burden my recent bride with a pack
So, everything went into a "Marine Grunt Pack" and onto my back with Karen
(my wife) skip hoping along and me grunting all the way....that may give you
guys a clue why they call the Marine Infantry the "GRUNTS."
BTW...I also had to carry "Schatzy", our miniature dachshund most of the way.
But Karen coooing into my ear..."Reinhold you are my hero"...made it all worth it.
That is all I ever wanted to be ....."Karens Hero."
Of course I was Mitzy's hero also.

Say guys, I understand now-a-days you guys make your women carry their own packs.
Yes,....things have really changed from the days when Switchback and Reinhold ruled
the trails.

JMT Reinhold
"Karen's hero"
-----------------------------
  
Fireweed wrote:
Yes--hiker demographics are changing. Although your message was humorous
I have found a definite incursion of more conservative political
viewpoints on the trail. It seems that conservatives are actually
adopting the long distance hiking venue as a way to express the good old
Protestant work ethic. I hiked for several days on the Arizona Trail
with a couple from Globe, Arizona. We hiked together amicably for
several days. But on one night the discussion turned to politics and I
was shocked at how far apart out viewpoints were--the man pontificated
on so many right wing Rush Limbaugh party lines (while his wife cowered
in their tent, not taking part in the "discussion") that it was
tantamount to a personal attack on me and what I believed. I left camp
the next morning early and never hiked with them again. I felt sorry for
his wife who was constantly berated by him on the trail with his demands
to carry her pack because he didn't think she was hiking fast enough.

I was used to thru hikers having a more progressive bent, but this is
not so anymore. It definitely isn't so in the rural areas that we have
to traverse to get rides and services--I will face this in March when I
do the Grand Enchantment Trail in Arizona and New Mexico. Luckily,
people are kind when they don't get to the point of having to indulge in
their political viewpoints.

--Fireweed