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[at-l] Perception - Cell Phones.
- Subject: [at-l] Perception - Cell Phones.
- From: stephensadams at hotmail.com (Steve Adams)
- Date: Fri Jan 14 14:07:23 2005
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