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

[rafeb@adelphia.net (rafeb@adelphia.net)]

On 18 Feb 2002 at 13:45, Curtis Balls wrote:


> Someone on this list said it takes "ego" to hike the Trail. Well, yeah,
> kind of.  But then it takes some sense of ego to do most anything else too.
> I'm not sure what the poster was referring to or what his definition of
> "ego" is.  This isn't what makes hikers or thru-hikers remarkable or
> different.


I wouldn't say that ego is what defines or distinguishes 
thru-hikers.  I'm not making a value judgement here.  
Think of ego as self-esteem -- good stuff, in moderation.

OTOH, ego is something that I see a good deal of among 
the thru-hikers I meet, and on reflection it's not surprising.

In other words, I do not find thru-hikers to be meek, gentle, 
humble, submissive, apologetic, introverted, mild-mannered 
wallflower types.  Most of those I've chatted with have 
strongly held opinions, on all sorts of topics, and clear 
notions of what they are about.  Heck, even if they're 
slackers, they're proud of the fact, and will happily 
explain why.

It doesn't require a strong ego to stumble through life, 
watch lots of TV, or spend your days at the mall.  I will 
submit, however, that it takes a healthy ego to seriously 
plan a thru-hike, and then to actually follow through on 
the plan -- even if it doesn't completely succeed.


rafe b.
aka terrapin