Date: 2010-11-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 180.0

I never saw a wild thingsorry for itself.A small bird will drop frozen dead from a boughwithout ever having felt sorry for itself"                                             DH LawrencePerspective....I learned an important lesson when I was a junior in high school. In my small town of Audubon, New Jersey there are three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Nelson V. Brittin, Samuel Sampler and Edward Benfold. You can google any of those names and read about their heroic actions. That year a couple of seniors learned about these three in a history class and set out to create a memorial. They raised the funds with help from the American Legion, and that spring there was a huge ceremony to unveil the monument. It's a beautiful wall with the image of their faces etched in stone. There were generals and admirals and politicians galore. Three Medal of Honor recipients in a tiny town is a huge deal! The lesson I learned was during a speech given by Congressman Andrews. He talked about the troubles facing kids our age in Audubon NJ. Who to go to prom with, a history test, where to work during the summer...things of that nature. He than went on to talk about the troubles other kids our age around the world face. A teenager in Palestine raised as a jihadist soon to strap a bomb to his chest, starving to death in Rwanda, or being part of turmoil anywhere else in the world...I don't remember exactly but it was along those lines. He put into perspective.....the fact that because of the sacrifices of men like the ones who's faces are etched on that wall, we were able to worry about trivial things in Audubon, NJ, as opposed to life and death issues as many other kids our age did around the world.How does this pertain to the trail? I'm getting there.... I always carried the lesson from that speech with me. I always try to put things in perspective. If someone complained they were having a bad day at the ICU, I always say "well think about the kind of day your patient is having". I always think....."people are going to die in this hospital today so i'm doing just fine". No matter how bad a day your having....somewhere close, someone is having a day that is worse. Of course we will have really bad days. The kind when people die, or cancer is diagnosed.....so no reason to sweat the small stuff right?I'm hiking the Appalacian trail. Living a dream right? Its hard to explain that the best thing you ever did can also be the hardest. This trail can be downright awful at times. As you know, recently the weather gave us a wake up call....and the mountains are getting bigger again. Hiking the AT is REALLY hard sometimes.What your getting here is a piece of what I call a "hiking mind". I spend 10-12 hours a day walking and thinking. I thought about this alot. I'm hiking the AT....lets think of some other people that have gone for long walks that are not on the AT. If I were still a Scout in one of my old units, I could be walking in the mountains of Afghanistan worried that I will start taking fire from the Taliban at any moment, or become a victim of an IED. How about the poor souls that took a little walk called the "Battan Death March" after the Phillipines were invaded during World War Two? They had no granola bars, no gatorade (let alone water), and if they stopped for a break they were given the bayonett. The soldiers in the Revolutionary war who did their walking in the winter without shoes. When they got to their destination with bloody frost bitten feet, they than had to fight. No camp fire or Ramen noodles or 25 degree down sleeping bag.....nope. How would you like to hike to the place where your death was going to take place. There are a million other comparisons, but I think you get the point.Self pity can be destructive. It's so tempting to wallow in it. It just seems so nice sometimes....just a little harmless day sitting around feeling sorry for yourself won't hurt right? Wrong....it is a parylytic. Its a darkness that can suck you in and destroy you....on the trail, in life.So when things suck the most....put them into perspective. I'm hiking the freaking AT!!! In a free country that has allowed me to do this. I have family and friends that love me, and experience random kindness on a daily basis. I have food, clothing and a phone. Life is good!!Perspective.....it won't raise the temperature, or lessen the rain fall....it won't shrink mountains or clear rocks from my path.....but it will erase self pity.