[at-l] Just Because... (was Record time hiking the AT)

[saunterer@jimbullard.org (saunterer@jimbullard.org)]

At 10:16 PM 3/15/02 -0500, Bob C. wrote:
>...clip... I told folks in '93 I was going to Georgia to explore the
>southern Appalachians and then walk home. Immediately, I was faced with
>questions about what cause was I raising money for? Was this a 
>competition? What
>was the prize?

I'm not surprised.  Our society is obsessed with competition in sports, 
business, status, you name it.

>When I had to take 10 days off because of a physical problem, I was 
>offered all
>kinds of condolences for having failed this challenge. No one seemed to 
>have any
>recognition of why, when I recovered, I wanted to go back to the trail.

Americans (generally speaking) are *not* into personal challenges or 
solitude.  Back when I was in high school I was required to take "physical 
education".  It was all about competitive team sports.  I wasn't good at 
any of them, took a lot of abuse from the jocks and learned to hate 
exercise.  I didn't get smarter until my early 40s when I began climbing 
the Adirondack High Peaks.  Better late than never I guess.

I saw a story on TV a short time ago about a school that was teaching 
students about fitness rather than how to play team sports.  The focus is 
on activities that the individual can do without a 'team'.  That's a ray of 
hope but I wouldn't expect many people to understand what we like to do for 
at least 2-3 more generations even if the trend of that school 
spreads.  Face it Weary, we hikers are weird in the eyes of the average 
citizen.

sAunTerer