[at-l] Appalachian Trail history question

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 01:13 AM 10/28/2005 -0400, Bob C wrote:
>"How do you know this? your just making that shit up" comments Clyde.
>
>Well, perhaps. But certainly many successful writers mold their words to 
>fit the interests of the publication. And I don't recall that MacKaye ever 
>again mentioned his regional planning dream. Rather when a parkway was 
>built through Shenandoah -- which came closer than anything to 
>accomplishing part of his original article, he fought it bitterly.

Well, we all change our ideas over time. Some of us only slightly, others 
drastically. If you assume that MacKaye was of to sort that changed his 
views only slightly you could assume (as RnR has and evidently Weary too) 
that he included in his original proposal things he didn't really mean, 
solely to assure publication. I'm not so sure of that. Idealism often has a 
hard time holding up when it confronts reality and MacKaye was an idealist.

>Perhaps, also, my reading of his initial trail proposal was colored by the 
>fact that I already knew that he went on to become one of the key founders 
>of the Wilderness Society, and thus paid more attention to some of his 
>words than to others. I think it useful to judge historical folks like 
>MacKaye by the sum of their lives and writings, not just their initial efforts.

Whether the regional planning portions were sincere or disingenuous, we are 
left with choosing between the trail he proposed and his later wilderness 
crusades. The point being that *we* have to choose what happens to the 
existing wild lands. MacKaye and others may inform our views but times have 
changed and those who have died are in a word, dead. It's not up to them 
any more. It is up to us. The burden for anyone passionately attached to a 
given strategy is to defend that strategy based on how it affects *us* and 
the generations to come. Simply saying "because MacKaye (or whomever is 
your favorite dead guy) wanted that way" isn't a reason. The torch has been 
passed. If you expect it to stay lit based on the fire of a passed 
generation, you will find yourself in the dark.