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[at-l] 2000 Plus Or Minus

While I tend to agree with Cliff, just to play devil's advocate, ask
yourself the following:

1)  Do you have any patches on your pack, or pins in your hat?

2)  Do you have any bumper stickers on your car or truck?

3)  Do you wear any T-shirts or caps with logos on them?

4)  Have you mentioned your love of hiking, or doing the AT on a resume
or job application?

5)  Do you use any American currency, or keep a bank account?

6)  Did you make a photo album, web or hand-held, of your AT trip?

7)  Ditto re a journal?

8)  Did you sign the registers at Springer, Harper's Ferry and Katahdin?

All of the above are really just "pieces of paper."  Clifford is right
that when we are out on the Trail, such things matter little [at least
to most].  But, when we return to civilization, we again start
interacting with others - others who value greatly various "pieces of
paper" and various symbols.  Thus, we all face a constant litany of
decisions re how to interact with others when it comes to talking, or
electing not to talk, about our thru-hike.  Each person sees it
differently; but I would venture that all of us want to talk to some
about it, and not to others . . . it's just that we differ greatly in
deciding how to "speak" about it, and to whom we want to "speak" about
it.

Food for thought!

thru-thinker

"Clifford R. Haynes" wrote:
> 
> Kinda sounds to me like the piece of paper is what's important to some
> folks, or maybe some are insecure and need a piece of paper to prove to
> themselves where they have been and what they have been doing. I suppose
> that goes with the AT being a conquest. But  the 2K patch doesn't really
> have anything to do with a thru hike. In fact the average Thru Hiker of
> today will never find out what it was that made thru hiking something they
> wanted to do.
> Years ago there were two experiences to be had on the AT, that of a Thru
> Hiker and that of a section hiker. Today everyone is a section hiker, and
> the trail society is that of a section hike.
> 
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