[at-l] LONGISH, Trail Magic ,etc.

[cballs@mindspring.com (cballs@mindspring.com)]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 09:27:36 -0400 William Neal <nealb@midlandstech.com> wrote:

REPLY:
>>>J'st plain ol' Southern hospitality.  & It's not contrived.  


Now Will, don't go gettin' your "Southern" up.  I don't believe Rick was saying that Southern hospitality is contrived (although to my mind it's over-vaunted and over-marketed).  I think he was trying to say that a lot of what passes for "Trail Magic" is contrived and while it can be a lot of fine things, it isn't, strictly speaking, "magic."  At the risk of soundling like an ungrateful boor, the increased popularity of this non-hiker behavior on the Trail is not always a good thing for the Trail.  It might be fine for the hikers, but not always for the Trail.  Rick, if this is not what you're saying then I can't help you.



>>>>Actually a lot
of the South (particularly the Southeast and the Appalachians) derive their
culture from a heavy does of Celtic culture.  And like a lot of older
cultures, hospitality to strangers was of prime importance to Celts.


There are many reasons for Southern hospitality.  I don't know if I'd go so far as to suggest that it all began with the Celts, bless their hearts.  They invented Bluegrass. Ain't that enough?  Actually I think it all started with the Native Americans who ran down to the water's edge with a glass of iced tea.



>>>In fact, sometimes the well being of strangers was as important or more
important than family (ever read the story of Lot in the Old Testement?).
As long as the strangers were "polite".  


Lot was a Celt?  What version of the Good Book are you readin'?  It cain't be the King James. (You know Moses sounded just like that.) You must be readin' one of them new translations tryin' to make everything all modern and relevant and politically correct and hip and Celtic.



>>>I have given strangers rides, stopped to help change a tire, etc.  And it is
common (or was) to see such things down here.

Sir, you're a scholar and a gentleman.  


>>>Of course as you "Yankees"
;-) move down here, it's getting more uncommon.  Of course it does rub off
on some "new Southerners" and they show genuine Southern hospitality.  


Ahhh, the "Come Heres".  Actually New Yorkers are some of the most generous and compassionate people I know, after you get them in off the street.  For other than their family and friends, they tend to show their generosity more through the giving of money rather than through personal involvement, although some give a great deal in effort and time through religious institutions.  Southern hospitality is not what is used to be thanks to television.  After the near ceaseless diet of television news and news programming on the dastardly deeds of the human race, it's easy to imagine that every SOB you meet is a snake in the grass. It makes good television but it doesn't make for trusting neighbors.  This is one of the reasons hiking for an extended time in the woods is the best antidote to the hell of modern life.

Television will eventually be the complete ruination of Southern culture, because none of it originates from down South. It's from New York or Los Angeles and so it reflects the world view and biases of those places and of the people in those places.  CNN may as well be from Mars.  John Egerton observed the impact of mass media on the American South as a significant part of the "Americanization of Dixie." 


>>>>>>Not that everyone down South is nice.  A lot of people anywhere are just
down right cold or mean: 

You can say that again.  However, they'll be very polite right up to the moment they pull out their gun and shoot you, dead if they can manaage it.



>>>But trail magic does exist: I've gotten taken all over Suches by a homeless
guy who lived here and there out of his old station wagon.  And I spent a
hour or so riding around Helen, Ga., by a nice couple a they tried to find a
room open at an inn.  

Are you makin' this up Brother William?  Seems like I've heard this story before.


>>>>Then there was the old guy who waited at crossings
because he was retired.  


Waiting at crossings is going to be one of the joys of retirement for me too.


>>>>>>And the fry cook who was in a hurry to get home,
but stayed so I could get a real hamburger and fries.


As opposed to the fake ones at McDonalds?  Spoken like a true Southerner.



>>>>>Not that a body should not be careful: 

"A body" Perfect!


<>>>>>>I've know lots of friendly Southerners whose attitude
would change faster than a New York second. 


Minute, not second....a New York minute.  A New York second would be immeasurable on the space-time continuim.



>>>Also, thru-hikers are apt to be more considerate of the locals.  

Uhhh, well?.....uhhh, not necessarily.  There was the Great Catawba Massacre back in '99 while I was on the Trail and by the time the thru-hikers had gotten finished accussing the store owner of intentionally making them sick, they had him figured as the Grand Dragon of the KKK.


>>>So if you want Trail Magic.  Don't expect it.  Don't demand it.  Just be
polite and considerate as if you were at home.  


I think most are.  "Trail Magic" is one of those concepts like "Community"  that has become corrupted and no longer means what it once did.  Some of the old-timers are just perplexed by it all.  Those who care about the meaning of words are just pissed.

Samuel "Balls" Johnson, who is most famous for answering the ages old philosophical question: "Is it true that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's?"