Fwd: [at-l] Hiker "quality"

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (rafe.bustin@verizon.net)]

On 10 Apr 2002 at 13:32, Shane Steinkamp wrote:

> > Your observation, Shane, gets close to a point I
> > tried to make a few weeks back about "ego."  The
> > point was that long distance hikers seem to have
> > a generous endowment of confidence, chutzpah,
> > sense of self-worth, self-esteem, etc.  Some call
> > that aggregate of attributes "ego."  I'm trying to apply
> > the word here without the usual negative connotations.
> 
> I tend to think of such peopls as 'awake'.  Lots of other people I know walk
> around 'asleep'.


I'm afraid I don't completely agree -- if, by "awake," 
you mean open-minded, in the more general case.

To illustrate the point -- a debate with you or me or 
Jim Owen on the 2nd Amendment would be pointless, 
as would a debate with RnR on what wilderness is or 
what MacKaye "really meant."

What I claim is that strongly-held opinions are one of 
several attributes I attribute to long-distance hikers.


rafe b.
aka terrapin