[at-l] Do hiker have more hunaity? was "women's" issues

[cballs@mindspring.com (Curtis Balls)]

Really fine, excellent post!  Absolutely right on target too, every word.

Curtis


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan Leitschuh" <janl2@mindspring.com>
To: "AT-List" <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Cc: "Shane Steinkamp" <shane@theplacewithnoname.com>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 7:46 AM
Subject: [at-l] Do hiker have more hunaity? was "women's" issues


>
> I wish this were true. I used to believe this as well:
>
> > I don't think it's possible for real hikers to be abusive
> > people.  Once you have a certain level of contact with the
> > natural world, you gain a level of real humanity that is not
> > possible to achieve living in a city in our culture.
> >
> I agree that city living is several "layers" away from the natural world,
> and a certain erosion of respect for life occurs.
>
> Our vast food supply comes in neat little packages, already deboned,
> sometimes even cooked - no messy hunting or scaling or neck-wringing.
Crowds
> of people urge one to "pull inside" and avoid eye contact, so as to
preserve
> a modicum of personal space. Water comes out of a sink, heat comes out of
a
> wall, and one flush, a good handwash with soap and business is finished.
>
> My friend Laura who thru-hiked last year got off the Trail and traveled
to
> Penn station. She said everyone was on cell phones, or hurrying, or
looking
> away. She found herself craving eye contact, and the contrast was
enormous.
> Seeing only two or three people for a day or a week or a month makes us
> social creatures happy and welcoming, helpful and eager to connect.
>
> As I said, I used to believe that hikers were "kinder, gentler" breed for
> the same reasons you do.
> After all, hikers are getting out of the "little boxes" society needs us
to
> be in in order to feel safe, ordered  and uphold the consensus trance.
Going
> off to hike for six months is not typical lemming behavior. An awe of
nature
> and the compelling nature of reality (as opposed to ideas in the head) is
> right at hand. I grew very excited when I discovered hikes and hiking.
>
> > I don't think it's possible for real hikers to be abusive
> > people.
>
> That said, I now have seen that hikers are just like any other group of
> people, city dwellers or not.
> I have met a few saints, a few truly scary ones, and the rest fall
somewhere
> in between, with various shades of abuse and kindness. Same as anywhere
> else.
> The higher order of respect and humanity I thought I would find in hikers
is
> not spread wider than found in the general population. I wish this were
so,
> but it is not my experience. There is just as much sniping,
aggressiveness,
> shoulder-clacking, ego-bumping, offense-taking, "I-me-mine" and general
> defensiveness in hikers as anywhere.
>
> In addition, hikers aside, there have been warlike cultures that lived
very
> close to the land, water and  "big skies." Only their technology kept
them
> from being more destructive and murderous than they were. The Mongol,
Viking
> and Apache cultures spring to mind.
>
> I don't know what the softening and humanizing element is, it MAY BE
> exposure to the grandeur of nature, but the human ego is still the
> gatekeeper.
>
> Aye, there's the rub...
>
> Every one has to make a choice whether to soften and let nature" in" and
> give up "better than" - or to retain their separateness and the illusion
of
> superiority in order to feel okay about themselves. Everybody makes these
> choices, moment to moment. Everybody.
>
> So, if I raise a glass to anything, it is the rare "gatekeeper" with the
> courage to relax and let nature perform its softening, respectful magic.
> These are my heroes and I take inspiration from them. A few even hike.
>
> --
> ========================================
>     Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd.
>
> Website:
> http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html
>
> ========================================
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