The finest and noblest acts of kindness and philanthropy are the anonymous ones.
Repeat reading as often as necessary.
You are correct.
I'll let him slide on this one.
(Thanks Weary.)
Ah. JackOriginally Posted by Jack Tarlin
The finest and noblest acts of kindness and philanthropy are the anonymous ones.
Repeat reading as often as necessary.. Sorry for the smiles. But I couldn't quickly find a a LMAO symbol. We are not philanthropists. My wife and I live on the equivalent of two social security checks, around $25,000 a year. Not poverty, by most standards. But certainly not luxury. Thanks to a careful lifestyle, every year we eke out a few thousands for land trust, trail, and church obligations, and of course that recently banned White Blaze P word activities. Other than the value of our house, we have no significant wealth.
Our "philanthropic" efforts are further limited by the handicap of living on waterfront property we bought for $2,900 46 years ago, but which the tax assessors now value a couple of 100 times, or so, higher than that value.
Jack. We are not enemies. I try to do useful things. You try to do useful things. Your talk about proper philanthopy in reference to me reveals a total misunderstanding. Like most people, my wife and I try to do useful things.
We over commit occasionally. And then struggle to catch up.
Weary
all this over a friggin sign. children are dying in cancer wards. volunteer your time on your local rescue squad. a trail is just a trail
As have I, several times. Sadly Maine lacks many such spectacular loop hikes. That, among more important reasons, is one reason we formed the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust.
Weary www.matlt.org
but this trail has an artificially created 100 mile wilderness that has to be preserved or else it might become extinct and revert back to its old ways with things like a cement bridge over big wilson and a direct roadwalk into monson.
perspective is all
I think its all relative. Every year you loose a little more. Some years you gain some back. Here they finished the new bridge across the Big Salmon River this year. First it was all about mining and logging, then it went back to wilderness, and now its all about tourism and development and so there will be less wilderness once again. The new bridge and parkway might take longer to revert back to wilderness this time around. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years people start selling it to americans and europeans as vacation property. Trusts are good ideas, but even they can't slow down people forever. Every generation has a different perspecitive of what is natural and what is worth saving. Some year naturalists can make allies, but then people need to find a new way to make a living, and nature gives way once again.
http://fundytrailparkway.com/fundy_footpath.htm
Not "all this over a friggin sign." All this was over protecting a trail. I long ago decided that I couldn't do much about sickness, poverty, or even politics. But helping to keep a a few trails in Maine, was something, I've tried to do.
Poverty, sickness and world injustices will always be with us, and I've done a little to help with such things. But most of my efforts have been devoted to things more permanent, protecting bits and pieces of land for the enjoyment of my kids, grandkids and future generations.
Of course, Lone Wolf, "a trail is just a trail." But trails provide many benefits to many people. We're a nation of increasingly sick people. Two thirds of us are seriously overweight, so obese that seven percent already have diabetes. Trails are more than fun. They are a partial solution to serious national ills.
Trails don't exist, or continue to exist, without people buying the land, building trails, and maintaining trails.
LOne Wolf. Do whatever you want with your time and resources. But a hiking forum may not be a good place to criticize someone for protecting trails.
Weary www.matlt.org
Life is full of such irony. We know that.
some pics of whl. a peaceful place.
U.S. Marines.
no better friend. no greater enemy.
I'm not sure, 33 whiskey, what you mean by artificially created "wilderness." Before the popularity of automobiles, people from the south used trains to flock to Maine to spend time in what were 100s of hunting and fishing camps.
As autos intruded, motels built, and roads improved, the sporting camps gradually died. Only a dozen or so remain. No body created the "wilderness." It simply reverted to wilderness, once the sporting camp era ended. Gulf Hagas was a major tourist attraction a century ago. By the early 70s, it's existence had been totally forgotten by most people.
The same guy who told me about Maine's long forgotten 400,000 acres of public lots. Convinced me to go with him to see Gulf Hagas. My story and photos created a bit of a sensation. Very few people knew it existed.
Because I like wild places, I work to keep what nature has reclaimed wild. You can do what you want. It's a matter of philosophy. I know I'm in the minority. Most people like to walk in places with roads, machines, motels, sporting camps, and places to buy hamburgers.
I prefer to walk in wild places with a minimum intrusion of civilization.
I'll continue to fight for those things I think important. You can fight for what you want. Being younger, you'll probably win.
But let's try to keep the nomenclature correct. The 100 miles are not an artificial wilderness. It's a recovering wilderness. Something quite precious and rare, and worth protecting.
Weary
whatever. you're a big hypocrite and not too in tune with real life. the AT is unimportant in the big pic
Anyone know if WHL is on leased land and/or if that's even an issue in those parts?
People need to feed their souls as well as their stomachs.
Well in the real world people 'not too in tune with real life' still have to compete, same as everyone else, and they have just as much right to do so. They do a fair job sometimes.
On subjects like this I always think of that movie based on Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf" where the inuit man killed the wolves to get himself a new set of teeth. He liked his sweets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Cry_Wolf_(film)
"In wildness is the preservation of the world." Henry Thoreau
"Don't hide your light under a bushel:" spoken by Jesus, while delivering his Sermon on the Mount.
Amen.
'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~
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