Lovetohike
New member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2003
- Messages
- 104
- Reaction score
- 6
Looking through the thread on the Madison rescue, I was struck by the intensity of the criticism and anger generated by this incident (as were some of the other posters). I want to throw out the question as to why so much intensity was generated? I believe that the criticism goes beyond what would be expected in response to a wide variety of annoying and bothersome things we run into on the trail: rude hikers, litter, poor care for the environment, dangerous situations caused by others, etc. So the answer to my question is not what bad judgment, poor choices or just plain stupid behavior was exhibited by the individuals involved, that's been gone over again and again. The answer is why that behavior creates such a huge (and in my view, excessive) response.
You probably guessed, I do have an opinion, but I'd like to hear others. What I came to was that the more angry and critical we get of others' poor judgment, bad decisions and panicked behavior, the more we feel that this could never happen to us, that we're "above" that sort of thing. Only problem is that while we may not do the same things that the folks did on Madison, I would venture that we all have had our moments of very bad judgment, bad choices and yes, even panic, that we probably survived one way or another. It can just take one very bad/wrong decision, made under duress, one brief lapse of attention to one's footing, one misstep, one unpredicted change in the weather to lead to a very bad situation. This is not real pleasant to dwell on and accept. So of course we need to learn from others' (and our own) mistakes and do our best to avoid repeating them. But we also have to accept our fallibility, our frailty and some of the inherent risks in what we do, no matter how prepared and well conditioned. As long as we can keep criticizing, we can keep up the illusion that it can only happen to them, not to us. Hopefully I'm not sounding too preachy, this is something I've been thinking about for a long time, and I have had to work hard to subdue my own tendency to pile on the criticism at times.
You probably guessed, I do have an opinion, but I'd like to hear others. What I came to was that the more angry and critical we get of others' poor judgment, bad decisions and panicked behavior, the more we feel that this could never happen to us, that we're "above" that sort of thing. Only problem is that while we may not do the same things that the folks did on Madison, I would venture that we all have had our moments of very bad judgment, bad choices and yes, even panic, that we probably survived one way or another. It can just take one very bad/wrong decision, made under duress, one brief lapse of attention to one's footing, one misstep, one unpredicted change in the weather to lead to a very bad situation. This is not real pleasant to dwell on and accept. So of course we need to learn from others' (and our own) mistakes and do our best to avoid repeating them. But we also have to accept our fallibility, our frailty and some of the inherent risks in what we do, no matter how prepared and well conditioned. As long as we can keep criticizing, we can keep up the illusion that it can only happen to them, not to us. Hopefully I'm not sounding too preachy, this is something I've been thinking about for a long time, and I have had to work hard to subdue my own tendency to pile on the criticism at times.