[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] Perception - Cell Phones.



RnR,

Reference your post, ?Perception/Quote,? dated 1-13-04, advising 
?(C)onscious or not, intentional or not, the cell phone can create 
situations that may not have occurred without them.?

I didn?t read this thread when it began, nor have I read all the posts since 
I began reading it, so I may have missed something.  That said, your point 
as to cell phones has always seemed clear and valid to me.

I recall that, on another forum, I admitted to carrying a cell telephone in 
my pack while day-hiking when I was on call.  [A digression: a colleague 
discovered he had no days off, including no holidays off, in over a year.  I 
rarely had a day off, and never two days in the same week.  Taking my cell 
telephone along on a precious day off was the only way I could hike, since 
it permitted me to respond to my telephone pager.]  You took me to task for 
intruding upon the AT by carrying a cell telephone.

Hiking was important to me and helped me continue working until I retired.  
I was willing to intrude upon the relationship I had with nature - the real 
world - in order to maintain both my perspective, which hiking provided, and 
my economic need which my job provided.

I agreed with you, and I still agree with you, that including a cell 
telephone on a hike is an intrusion upon a special relationship some hikers 
can realize with nature; not just the hiker carrying the cell telephone but 
also the other hikers who are aware of the cell telephone presence.

The problem may come when your ?theory? meets ?reality.?  I label your 
thesis ?theory? because if I accept your premise, that the availability of a 
cell phone may cause me to overextend my bravery/foolhardiness - the 
distinction turns upon whether my venture succeeds or fails - I must also 
accept your premise regarding other hiking matters.  And I think your 
premise is limited to a ?pure? point of view.

Consider the crowd of hikers ever present along the Appalachian Trail.  
There?s always another hiker coming along.  Most hikers rely upon others for 
help - even if just subconsciously - just as the presence of a cell 
telephone provides a non-natural source of help.  Are ?pure? hikers to avoid 
the AT in preference for a less populated trail?

Some people hike without carrying a tent/tarp/bivy relying instead upon some 
other self sufficient hiker to vacate a crowded shelter during bad weather 
allowing them to take his/her place.  This is usually considered just rude 
behavior but it does rely upon the kindness of others to facilitate their 
successful hike.  Does this diminish the purity of their claim to have 
completed a thru-hike?

You have picked but one example: the easy security afforded by the 
availability of a cell phone.  Some people recognize they dearly want two 
conflicting things at the same time, a cell phone for example, and a 
guaranteed warm and universal acceptance into the society of ?pure hikers.?

There are many reasons to argue your point which have nothing to do with the 
point itself.

Hang in there.  Fight the good fight.

Steve