Re[2]: [at-l] perspective

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"...Congratulations to the terrorists of this list," says Orange Bug.

I may be thick, but I have absolutely no idea what Orange Bug is talking about. In the light of
today's happenings, it strikes me as a poor choice of words at best. Am I a terrorist because I
drove 250 miles yesterday and reported it on this list? Am I a terrorist because I have said
Wingfoot does useful things but would be much more useful were he not so paranoid and self-centered?

Am I a terrorist because when the discussion got totally off the trail I posted a "poem" I had
orignally written on a hillside in Tennessee in 1993 and have revised from time to time since? Am I
a terrorist because I reported that ATC needed letters in support of an land acquisition in
Tennessee? (Obviously not enough responded because I understand the issue has failed in The
Congress) Am I a terrorist because I reported on some fond memories of Bump and Margaret Smith,
pioneer, north to south hikers? Am I a terrorist because I suggested ways a suitable memorial could
be established for Maine Rose (much more money is needed)

Am I a terrorst because I responded honestly to several good questions posed by Jim and/or Ginny? Am
I a terrorist because I reported on my experience with goats on the trail? Am I a terrorist because
I report from time to time on efforts to preserve buffers to the trail in Maine?

Am I a terrorist because I defend Rick Boudrie's final message to this list in which he properly
spells out how some on this list have deliberately misinterpreted and maligned RnR?  Am I a
terrorist because I explain my experiences with sun screen and cotton? Am I a terrorist when I
report on my experiences on the trail while growing up or respond to questions about Grandma
Gatewood? or sexual harrassment? When I oppose "driving the AT"? Or defend unions from libelous
accusations?

Perhaps warning folks about fire dangers in Maine, or reporting about meeting my mother's old boy
friend in the desert of Arizona qualifies? Maybe defending the ATC's policy of prohibiting
commercail ads in the trail corridor or speaking out against the theft of trail registers qualifies
me for the "terrorist" label? Or perhaps it's my account of my first backpack at age 12?  And if I'm
not the terrorist Orange Bug is talking about, who is? Let's not label the entire list. If we have
something to say, let's say it.

Perhaps Orange Bug isn't speaking about me at all, though I'm about the only "controversial" one
left, who posts regularly. Maybe he's just upset about all the posts about X thousands dying in terrorists raids and
doesn't want to hear about them.

Well, I think I've answered all the questions people have posed of me over the summer. Now I've
posted a couple of my own.

Weary '93



Bob