[at-l] Cell Phones, yet again - the 'rules'

[jestbill at yahoo.com (william fitzpatrick)]

--- Coyle306 <coyle306@verizon.net> wrote:
...
>It all comes down
> to  a  matter  of  common  courtesy  and having some consideration for
> others. 
...
> Been  doing  it  for  a  long  time.  I  can  count  the number of bad
> experiences  I've  had  with  smokers, cell phones, dogs, alcohol, and
> drugs on one hand.
...

My "experience" is that I've thru-hiked the AT once.

There was a dog in Grayson Highlands that made some fellow hikers so nervous
that they threatened the owner.  I stopped and petted the dog.

There was a chain smoker who wanted to be a part of the conversation in a
shelter. One of the other hikers couldn't stand it--I couldn't even smell it.

The only place I saw cell phones was at road crossings where they mostly didn't
work.  Not my problem.

I met one guy with a gun, one with a CROSSBOW(!) and one with a very large
knife (ex-butcher.)  I had to hike a little extra to give the guy with the
knife some extra room but I'm sure there were some who stopped to talk shop
with him.

I even slept in the same shelter with the "Good Christian" who really couldn't
talk about anything else.  Other people were afraid of him.

You know, the biggest problem I had was with a dog at a staffed shelter (Upper
Goose Pond cabin.)  The dog was a "herding" type who considered me to be one of
his flock.  Well, I don't "herd."  I'm more of a cat so we had an argument. 
The problem was not me, it was not the dog--it was our conflicting
personalities.

Seems to me that what we have here is a failure to communicate.  Some people
want to make "rules" and some others automatically reject "rules."  It is more
a personality conflict than an argument over what rules are best or most
logical or even over what is "rude" and what is not.


JestBill  Ga--->Me '03

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