Re: [at-l] Cell Phones revistied

["Coosa" <coosa@fox21.net>]

Hikers, Backpackers, Campers,
Once again, we're at the pro-con-middle-of-the-road discussion on
cell-phones.

May I ask WHY this becomes such a heated debate?  BEFORE you go typing off a
response, take some time to think about your feelings on the subject.  What
inside you makes you think that you know the "correct" response to the
question for EvErYoNe else?   If YOU decide NOT to carry a cell phone, then
that's YOUR decision and yours alone.  If someone else decides TO carry a
cell phone, then that's THEIR decision and theirs alone.

Cell phones, hiking poles, pocketmailers/palmpilots -- I wonder if our
hiking-parents were sitting around the campfire saying things like
"goretex(r), 500 denier, vibram(r)," etc with the same heated discussion and
each hiker thinking that he or she has the ultimate and last word on the
subjects at hand.

Look at something else -- 50 years ago, how many manufacturers had a line
for backpacking items?  Few, you can name them, Coleman(r), and a couple
others.   Today there is an ENTIRE industry with hundreds of manufacturers
who sell to backpackers and some companies sell only to the
camping/hiking/backpacking public.

Would you demand that we all buy the same backpacking items that you do,
simply because you bought them and they're the best choice for you?

If it's a hike yer own hike when it comes to a sleeping bag or a backpack or
a tent, then why do we not allow the person to decide what they place in the
sleeping bag, backpack or tent?

We're not talking guns here (for which each State has a plethora of rules,
regulations and licenses and getting caught can get you put in jail or
fined), we're talking things that some people believe makes their hike more
enjoyable.

What does someone else having a cell phone in their pack have to do with
your hike anyway?   What does someone else having a pocketmailer/palmpilot
(or a GPS) in their pack have to do with your hike anyway?  What does
someone else using hiking poles have to do with your hike if you decide not
to use them?

You may want to "argue" the point of the tips scaring the land -- gimmie a
break here, you drive a car?  you put pollutants in the air?  how may miles
of beaches have been covered in oil by leaking oil tankers because you had
to have your oil and gas or kerosene?   you eat meat?  you have animals
killed by others to fill your belly?  you live in a house with any wood in
the construction?  how many trees got cut down for it?  your furniture made
of wood?  how many more trees got chopped down just for you?   you eat
veggies only?  how many acres of land have been leveled for you to eat those
veggies?   how many pesticides have been used so that you can purchase
veggies cheaply?   how many Indiginous Peoples had to die so that you could
hike where you want to???

I could go on, but I do think you get the picture now.  Or I hope you do.

Calm rational discussion of the pros and cons of your choice and why it's
the correct choice for YOU, but please, give the other hikers the same
consideration.

Hike yer own hike,
See some of you at Trail Dayz,
Coosa




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