[at-l] On topic if you carry a cell on the trail... OT if you dont... Imp...

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Rafe wrote:
>What part of the eternal plan would you be speaking of, Jim.
>

I leave ?eternal plans? to those who think they?re qualified to talk about 
them.  <G>

>Please elaborate or illustrate (by example, perhaps) the notion
>of cell phones causing decline in quality of a thru hike.
>
>Let's assume the phone is *not* generally used to receive calls.


ROTFLMAO!!

You?ve gotta make up your mind, Rafe ? you apparently agreed with Chainsaw.  
And the only difference between what Chainsaw said and what I said is that, 
as a thruhiker, you?d have several months of the ?disconnection? ? and that 
the ?disconnection? gets much, much deeper with the passage of time.  When 
you go home from your 5 or 10 days on the Trail, you likely have little 
trouble getting back into the ?routine? (or ?rut? as I call it).  Most 
thruhikers go through a lot longer readjustment process ? commonly as much 
as 6 months ? and sometimes a lifetime.  The deeper the level of 
?disconnection? the longer the readjustment time.  Ask me someday about the 
CDT.  <g>

You know what the ?disconnection? is, don?t you?  It?s the "right now, right 
here, present moment experience" that Chainsaw and I were talking about.  It 
is, as Chainsaw said:

>when "You have been living by sunrise and sunset, by wind and rain, 
>surrounded by the ebb and flow of lives that respond only to such simple, 
>rhythmic elements." (again with credit to Fletcher) and when my focus is on 
>the green world in a right now, right here, present moment experience.  In 
>my personal experience, it takes me a hike of more than 10 days to develop 
>that precious middle segment.

It?s what nearly all of us go out there for ? and what some hikers forfeit, 
in part because they just ?have to? listen to their music, or call home 
every night or ? whatever.  It?s even ? as I told Sparrow ? carrying and 
constantly using the GPS on the CDT.  And in general, those who ?carry? the 
GPS get lost more often than those who don?t.  I know ? it's not 
"universally" true - and there are those who deny that ? generally because 
they don?t ?want? to believe it.   But not believing it doesn?t make it any 
less true.

Now, to answer your question ? the ?disconnection?, especially in the 
beginning, is susceptible to interruption.  And once interrupted, it loses 
some part of its ?quality? ? its ?amplitude? if you will.  Picture an 
increasing random sawtooth with a 20 or 30% loss of amplitude for each 
?tooth? (or trough) over a period of time (6 months maybe?).  And then 
compare that to an uninterrupted constantly increasing line with the same 
slope for the same period of time.  At the end of the time period, how does 
the amplitude of the two compare?  Do I have to comment on that?

Re: thruhikers, everyone has some of those ?sawtooth? variations simply 
because we all go into town every few days.  But if you increase the 
frequency of the sawtooth by calling home every night ? or by hiking with 
your MP3 - or by going to sleep listening to the ball game on the radio, 
then you?re also decreasing the final amplitude of the ?disconnect? at the 
end of the hike.

BTW - those who do a 4 or 5 month hike also decrease the final amplitude of 
their "disconnection."

So ? if you carry a cell phone in your pack and turn it on once a week, you 
think it won?t matter, right?  Well, if that makes you happy ? go for it.  
But if so, you might want to stop reading right here cause I won?t kid you ? 
it?ll still affect your hike because the very presence of that cell phone 
provides a ?link? back to the world that constantly threatens a hikers 
?disconnectedness.?  I know ? you won?t use the phone except in an 
emergency, right?

LOL!!!  How many times have I heard that?  And how many times has someone 
said something like this:

>At RPH shelter in New York, Senator Daniel
>used one to order pizzas for all present, which
>were delivered right to the shelter.  Someone
>tell me how that could be a bad thing...

So ? why do you think that Senator Daniel didn?t drop himself into the 
trough of a sawtooth with that call?  LOL!!!

I know ? it didn?t affect ?your? hike ? but it did affect his.

And then ? even if you don?t ever use that phone in your pack ? you ?know? 
it?s there.  It?s your ?lifeline? ? your ?safety net? ? and it?ll warp your 
sense of self-reliance and competence.  In the wrong direction.

This quote was lifted from a magazine article.  The speaker was the head 
honcho for a New Hampshire rescue crew for many years. Try it on for size ?

>"As a nation, we've made ourselves less self-reliant by developing a 
>dependency on "magic wands," such as cell phones and GPS units. We live in 
>a culture that demands 'safety' above all else and encourages us to place 
>responsibility for our lives and actions on someone else. George Orwell 
>labelled it "protective stupidity."

Carrying a cell phone in your pack with ?no intent to use it? is BS.  If you 
didn?t intend to use it, you wouldn?t carry the extra weight.  So ? you 
?only? intend to use it for emergencies?  Really?  That means you?d be 
carrying it out of ? what?  Can you answer that?

Try ? FEAR.  That?s the same reason most of us carry all that extra useless 
weight in our packs.

So ? if you lost that cell phone, what would happen?  You?d either overcome 
the ?fear? ? or you?d go home.  Most people manage to overcome the fear.  
And they?re better human beings for it.  They?ve learned something valuable 
? something that carrying the cell phone would have denied them (thus 
affecting their hike by the denial).

If you?d REALLY go home ? then who/what is actually doing the thruhike?  
It?s certainly not ?you? if you can?t do it without the cell phone as a 
crutch.  So it must be the cell phone doing the hike ? and dragging you 
along  - right?  <g>

Either way ? the cell phone would have affected the hike.

I started my time on this list 10 years ago with the same basic mantra - 
that carrying ANYTHING other than the most basic gear needed for survival ? 
ANYTHING that requires any part of your attention, emotions, or mental 
energy ? ANYTHING that breaks the disconnectedness that the Trail provides ? 
ANYTHING that provides a direct link to the world you left behind 
(supposedly happily) - WILL affect your thruhike in a negative way.  But we 
ALL do it in one way or another, don't we?

Now, you can quibble all you want about this ? fact is, I don?t give a royal 
flying hoot what you carry or not.  ?Your? hike is NOT ?my? hike.  And "my" 
main concern is ?my? hike.  But I care enough about other hikers to at least 
try to warn them about what they?re doing to themselves.  Some listen ? some 
don?t ? so what.  Yeah ? some even get mad at me.  They also get to deal 
with it ? it doesn?t raise ?my? blood pressure at all.

Finally ? if anyone thinks their thruhike was ?wonderful? ? or ?perfect? --- 
well, then it WAS.  YOU are the only one who has to be happy with it.  So be 
happy with what you?ve got ? with the hike you did.  Or do it again in a way 
that WILL make you happy.  It's your choice.  It's ALWAYS your choice.

But don?t come on to me about how I?m saying your hike wasn?t worth doing ? 
cause I don?t do that.  Your hike was what you did given the conditions and 
your best judgment and what you wanted out of the hike at the time you did 
it. Be proud of it.

Finally - for Saunterer - I don't do motorcycles, but I did Zen for a lot of 
years - it doesn't go away.  It DOES make you think "outside the box."

Y'all have a good day - I'm outta here if I can make it to the door,
Jim


http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/