Fwd: [at-l] Re: Women's issues

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

t. wrote:
>Some topics just seem to go on & on & on.    Much like the guns and ammo 
>topic that went on for at least a month or two and would never end.  (and, 
>I'm pro-gun!)

And it'll come back to haunt us all, I'm sure.


>Just because I have a working delete key, doesn't excuse anyone from errant 
>behavior.

Long ago and far away, I said that thruhiking was about "LIFE", that any 
topic that was about "LIFE" was - or should be - acceptable as a topic for 
thruhikers.  And I have (and had then) no intent to exclude other hikers.  
Some of you know that what I write is nearly always written from the 
perspective of a thruhiker - and for thruhikers, both past and future.

I've hiked something like 13,000 miles with a woman - she's my wife. We met 
on the Trail, we dealt with our differences both on the Trail and off, we 
learned - together - both on and off the Trail, and when we married, we went 
back to the Trail for our honeymoon (which, by the way, isn't over yet).  If 
I hadn't learned a little about this "wimmin's stuff" - and about the 
physical and emotional effects that go with it, we might well have been 
divorced long ago.

There's not a lot of room for error when you're together 24 hours a day for 
6 months at a time.  That's a LOT of togetherness - and not understanding at 
least the basics about hormonal effects as well as the physical requirements 
of the female body can lead to drastic and fatal consequences for a 
relationship.  I've watched a lot of guys blow it big time by being ignorant 
and assuming that their lady/partner/significant other will respond to 
situations the same way they do.  But they don't - not under "normal" 
circumstances (whatever "normal" is), let alone when you're hiking - and 
even less so at 'that time of month".  And for a woman, menstruation is 
something that WILL happen in the course of a 5 or 6 month thruhike - at 
least for most of them.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to cope with it - but it does take some 
knowledge and understanding and caring. And a willingness to be flexible and 
to compromise when she needs it.  Then, if you're really  lucky, maybe when 
YOU need it, she'll return the favor.  And you WILL need it sooner or later. 
  Just because you're male doesn't mean you can't break.

As usual, I think it's better to get at least the basic knowledge "before" 
the situation arises - before you stick a boot-clad foot in your big mouth.  
This (at-l) is a perfectly good place to acquire at least the basics.  
There's a line from Kipling that fits here although the context is somewhat 
different -

"Do ye wait for the spattered shrapnel ere ye learn how a gun is laid?
For the low, red glare to southward when the raided coast-towns burn?
(Light ye shall have on that lesson, but little time to learn)"

As in all things, learn BEFORE the knowledge is necessary - or you may find 
that "crash and burn" is a really painful lifestyle.


>sorry list.  I'm just in an ornery mood today.  and, this topic has always 
>been a peeve of mine.

Yeah - I understand - I've got a few of my own.  But I'm practicing 
patience.

>I'll go back to making a living now.

That's what I did this afternoon instead of answering this thread - or 
others  ;-]

Walk softly,
Jim



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