Re: [at-l] Story about people Was Message From EJ - Freefall

[Tim Wilson <timwilson@post.com>]

My name is Tim Wilson.  I am the transcriber for Dan and Tammy's journal on 
Trailplace.  Having just seen them referred to as the "Negative Duo" in the 
broadcast message below, I feel forced to reply to the entire freakin' 
list.  Here are some thoughts for your consideration.

1.      There are two sides to every story.  Here are the two sides of this 
one.

Eve's posting to this list.
""A couple I've hiked with who are writing a joint journal (didn't know 
they were) put in a somewhat nasty judgemental little portrait of me.  The 
day I met them, I had my one moment
of feeling uneasy about camping alone because an older native GA
hiker/hunter who had been hiking in the area for his whole life and with
whom I'd been walking with had given me and a few others a huge lecture
about how dangerous it was to camp alone in the GA area (bears and others)
and how this was not like camping in VT (where I'm used to camping alone).
I'd somewhat brushed off his remarks, a bit surprised by them, but later
that evening as I was getting ready to camp, I got a little nervous.  These
two were behind me and I asked them if they were camping in the area and
explained--rather embarrassed and apologetically--why, explaining why I was
asking.  They were kind of nasty, which made me feel even more stupid about
saying anything and I decided this was a good lesson to never ask this sort
of thing again.  Since then I've run into them several times--out camping
and out hiking them on all occasions--once more said how embarrassed I'd
been that day to ask, and they've acted very friendly towards me.""

Dan's Observation in his journal
"Eve is a middle-aged woman who doesn't seem well-suited to a solo thru
hike. She practically begged us to camp with her tonight. Her reason was
that she'd been told not to camp alone in bear country. After making camp at
the same spot as last year and feeling guilty, Tammy went back and invited
her to camp with us."

This was the first meeting between these people.  Do you see any dramatic 
differences between these 2 stories?  Do you see Dan's entry as "a somewhat 
nasty judgemental little portrait" of Eve?  Did you know that Dan and Tammy 
had gone back for Eve that night?

2.    Eve's personal situation is awful.  I've lived through a similar 
ordeal with cancer and understand how sensitive someone can be during that 
time.  I wish her and her family the very best.  I am sorry that this entry 
caused her additional torment during this difficult time. To address her 
issue, I have removed her name from the entry that she found offensive.

3.   In the future,  if anyone feels hurt by something in the Trailplace 
journals, I hope they will seek a solution directly with the perpetrators 
rather than sending out broadcast emails.  Trailplace has an email facility 
on every journal page for people to respond directly to the hikers.  There 
is also a public guest book.  Finally, Wingfoot can reach the transcribers 
for an immediate fix.

Thanks and I hope your hiking is great,
Stargazer'98

At 09:50 PM 05/01/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Stop me if you've heard this.
>Back when I lived in Montgomery, AL, I was the Intake Service Worker for
>Adults at the welfare office.  Adults in need of one time financial help or
>a referral somewhere would come see me.  We rarely helped single people with
>much except medical needs, usually referring them to Vocational Rehab or
>some other agency.
>A woman came in from out of State wanting a regular monthly welfare check.
>Alabama never has given able bodied adults any kind of regular welfare
>check.  The only thing she could qualify for was Food Stamps, but she owned
>a fairly new vehicle, so her resources were over the limit.
>The woman got very ugly with me, yelled at me, accused me of all kinds of
>reasons for not assisting her.  I was professional and polite in turning her
>down.  She left angry at the system and at me, I guess.
>
>About a month or two later, I volunteered to answer the phones at a local
>privately owned teevee station that was raising money.  A group of us went
>in, met the owner of the Station, got a pep talk and then were introduced to
>our Supervisor.
>Of course, you've guessed who that person was.  The same woman who was so
>ugly to me, to whom I did not responded in kind.
>
>My POINT?   Anyone who meets anyone else on the Trail (or in life) has no
>clue as to where the two of them may meet again.   In this case, Eve may end
>up in some kind of supervisory or managerial position over the Negative Duo.
>You don't know what will happen in the future -- so I think it's best to
>treat everyone I meet as if they might one day end up being my Supervisor!
>
>Coosa
>
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