[pct-l] Dog Tags and Why I Hike

[thehawk-rc at comcast.net (thehawk)]

Isn't hindsight is a -great- predictor of the past?

You did what you thought was right at the time, right?  There is no shame in
that, even if your views have changed since then and you want to look back
now with regret at what you have or have not done.

Skip the regret, I say, and instead look back and contemplate what you have
learned, and how you have grown since then.

Just don't spend too much time on it- there are a whole lot of todays out
there that need your attention.

-thehawk

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Wayne Kraft
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 20:02
To: pctl pctl
Subject: [pct-l] Dog Tags and Why I Hike

Quite unexpectedly the list's discussion of dog tags and military
experiences has caused me a bit of a personal epiphany.  I have never served
in the military and during the Vietnam War, when I was of an age to do it, I
didn't volunteer.  In fact, I was pretty vocal in my  
opposition to that war.  At first I applied for a student deferment.   
Later, when the draft lottery was implemented, I drew a number so high I was
guaranteed never to be drafted.  I was blind in one eye and, although I
didn't know it yet, already beginning to lose my hearing.  Had I
volunteered, I don't know if I would have been taken and, if taken, if I
would have been thrown into combat.  I was about as far from fighting that
war as you could get.

Since then I've discovered a lot of what I "knew" at 20 was just plain
wrong.  I let others fight for me and I abandoned them when they needed me
most.  If this was because I believed lies that were told to me, then I am
at fault for being so gullible.  Although it was not something I spent a lot
of time thinking about, over the years I found myself trying to make up for
this personal failing.  I picked hard tasks and set audacious goals.  Law
school.  A high pressure career.  Running marathons. Cooking up outlandish
challenges.  To some degree, I've volunteered for all these things because I
didn't step up when it really counted.

When I told my dad one day that I wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail
from Mexico to Canada some day, he asked me "Son, why don't you  
set some easier goals?''   I deflected the question with some  
humorous remark I no longer recall.  I wonder what he would have said if I
had responded, "Because I didn't go, dad.  Because I didn't go."  If I ever
I do get to hike this trail, I guess I'll be motivated in some way by all of
you who did go and to whom I am forever and irrevocably indebted.

So, if they find my mangled corpse some day and someone kneels down  
to read my dog tags.  And someone says to him, "Well, who is he?"   
And the man with my dog tags responds, "Well, I don't know who this is, but
he walked from Mexico to Canada."  Well, if that were to happen, I guess it
would be OK with me.

Wayne Kraft


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