Re: [at-l] purity...& patches

[Rick Bombaci <rpb@eoni.com>]

At 12:40 PM 2/12/00 -0500, Coosa wrote:
>
>I'm heartbroken to a degree, disappointed, depressed, sorrowful.  It's as if
>a family member has died and I've found out that I wasn't included in the
>will.  Wasn't even notified of the funeral.
>
>So why bother then?  Why not just 'say' you've hiked?  Why am I fighting for
>honesty when it appears it doesn't even matter?  Anyone can "say" they're a
>ThruHiker -- anyone can wear a ThruHiker/2000-Miler patch (and rocker, I
>suppose)  -- and if they say it outside of the Trail Community, which may or
>may not be able to document the truth, then it doesn't matter?  It's a
>status symbol -- like TNF on your Goretex?  And it can be claimed in the
>Trail Community, too, and with all the books available, one could even
>describe the trail -- watch a movie, etc. and 'know' about it.

You will never be able to prevent other people from making claims about
themselves that are not true.  The only thing you can do is choose to
accept or not accept what they claim.  So why get bent out of shape?  This
is true not only of 'thru-hiking' but also of college credentials,
expertise in any field of endeavor, success in marriage, you name it.

It's kind of like people who say, 'I'm not going to give you power over me
by getting upset about this (whatever it is).'  So don't let people whose
claims about hiking the AT seem fraudulent to you get you upset.

R.

GAME77, MEGA84, MEVA-GAVA87, PAMD-MEPA-MDTN-GATN92
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