[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[pct-l] room 4 everybody



    I  feel sad to read posts that  dividepct-list-ers into "worthy" and
"unworthy" groups: distance walkers vs Saturday nite hikers, section vs
"thru" hikers,  horse lovers vs horse haters, geritols vs whippersnappers
<g>, "environmentalists' vs recreationalists, those who use toilet paper
vs leaf wipers, land managers vs government-scofflaws, "mountaineers" vs
trail walkers, tarp campers vs tent campers, newbies vs seasoned
outdoorsfolk, even AT vs PCT! My personal observation is that backcountry
users can't always be so easily compartmentalized anyway (for
instance,what about someone who climbs, skiis, dayhikes, rides,
_and_backpacks easy trails _and_ rough cross-country for a coupla days to
nearly a month at a stretch _and_ has "done" the pct?). 
    
    Why  formulate arbitrary criteria for membership into
special-interest categories, _rank_ these categories, and then divide
everyone into them? ("Coincidentally" everyone who insists on group
distinctions places _their_ group at the top of the heap <g>. And
sometimes the categories have nothing to do with the PCT at all but
"success" in business, a trail 3000 miles away, foreign travel - even
personal religious piety!) This always seems to give some subscribers an
urgent need to boast/exaggerate in order to maintain their place in the
imagined "pecking order", then others become angrily defensive, and many
more feel insulted or hurt or excluded.

    Some might choose to explore only one activity or identify with only
one set of people; others like myself don't appreciate being segregated,
categorized,  or pitted against our fellows. If we show proper respect
for nature and environmental regulations, surely we all are on the same
"side", no matter what our individual differences. 

    The backcountry may be woefully-overcrowded, but there's still plenty
of room on the _internet_ for everybody. Like other subscribers
periodically point out: the name of this list is the Pacific Crest Trail.
 I propose that it should be the topic that UNITES us, not pulls us
apart.                     bj

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================