Date: 2014-01-17
To: People and Safety
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

People and SafetyI see a lot of posts on ¢dangerous people¢, ¢thieves¢, ¢strangers¢, and ¢creeps¢ on the trail and I¢m shocked by people¢s perspective and the advice given. I teach self defense and one of the fist things learned is fear makes you behave like you are weak and acting like you are weak is what a predator looks for. What you feel inside is projected outward. Confidence in yourself eliminates fear and projecting confidence shows predators that you are strong and not easy prey. So, building confidence becomes an important part of self defense.The same concept can be applied to the trail and meeting new people. If you judge people you meet out of fear and jump to negative conclusions about people, based on appearance or even reputation, then you are going to have even good people treating you badly. Don¢t appear scared and weak in any situation. Treating people nice and speaking with confidence is best when meeting someone new. If you are scared at first then with each new person you meet, and have a good conversation with, you will get more confidence and reduce your fear.I¢ve heard a lot of stories about women having to deal with ¢creeps¢. ¢¦Guys being overly nice to them or even following them for miles. Rather then putting up with it, or spreading the word about these guys without talking to them, (believe me some of these men don¢t know they are making you uncomfortable) you need to confront them (in a crowded area like a shelter) and tell them in a nice way that their behavior is making you uncomfortable. Make sure you explain it¢¦guys are dumb in this area. If they keep it up then put the word out about them. ¢¦And if they touch you in a bad way or threaten you it's time for the law to help.I¢m going to tell you some true stories about things I witnessed on the trail.The ledged of Machete Mitch-The grapevine on the trail is incredible. You will hear about people hundreds of miles ahead and behind you. In the beginning of 2012 there was one person you would hear about over and over again- Machete MitchMitch hikes without a tent or sleeping bag and he carries¢¦you guessed it¢¦a machete. Here is what you may hear on the trail if you were hiking in 2012-http://appalachianfrenchy.blogspot.com/2012/03/machete-mitch.htmlGoogle Machete Mitch or search on Trail Journals and you can read the stories.-the truth is Mitch is a nice guy. As far as I know he never did anything bad to anyone, but he did get himself in trouble¢¦but mostly it was other people that caused trouble for him. Unusual people usually get a bad reputation because people fear things they don¢t understand. How would you feel if people began to treat you bad because of a story? Most people did not get to know the real Mitch because you had to actually talk to him to get to know him, for that you had to look past the stories.Another one-I was at a shelter one time when a man started cussing and ranting about someone stealing his phone. The shelter had about ten hikers in various stages of getting ready for sleep. He wanted to know who did it and demanded we return his phone to him. He would look each one of us over and demand his phone back. More than an hour passed with a dark cloud over that shelter. Was there a thief? Who was it? The anger and mistrust was so thick you could cut it. The angry man wanted to start searching other peoples gear. A few of us suggested he start with his own. ¢I already did¢ he screamed. ¢Look¢ he said and emptied his backpack onto the floor¢¦that was when the phone fell out of his pack.-I¢m not going to tell you there is nothing out there to fear. There are a few bad people everywhere but these same bad people have some good in them, or at least they don¢t do bad things all the time. How you treat people makes a big difference. The trail is one of those places where all the hikers are in the same boat. Each one of us is in the same struggle and this tends to bring out the good side in people. We become one big family on the trail.Most of the thefts and violence that happened on the trail was near road crossings or in towns. Some thieves know that hikers stash gear near the road. Never camp near a road. If you are smart, cautious, and confident you will limit the chance of bad things happening to you on your journey. Just don¢t jump to any conclusions and don¢t let fear dictate how you treat people. Be strong¢¦be safe.