[at-l] Pearls before Swine

[nealb@midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

Not everyone who goes to a "mental facility" is apt to end up on the streets
wandering in a daze.  And some who do could have been helped if they had an
"outdoor" experience.  Not everyone, just some.  In fact some "outdoor"
facilities that lots of "normal" people enjoy start out as "treatment"
facilities.  It all depends on the person and the troubles they are having.
And it all depends on how we define normal.  

So what if MacKaye was a dreamer?  If it was not for dreamers, the AT would
not exist.  After all, the idea of a 2000+ mile trail from Georgia to Maine
is totally impractical.  And to expect the FEDERAL government to watch over
it and protect it is also impractical.  Why it's impractical to leave the
outskirts of the Garden of Eden since God might someday re-open the gates &
we certainly don't know what's out there.

What we need and what we have to remember is that it takes a mix of cold
hard realists and hot, airy dreamers to create and make something like the
USA and the AT.

William, The Impractical Turtle