would you be friends, even in a passing way while out for a hike, with a person or persons who demanded to be revered by you? the definition of revere being- "respect tinged with awe"?
i wouldnt. you want to hang around with people of that mind set, go for it.
it doesnt matter what his/her stpry is, or what they overcame. i'm not in awe of anyone who demands that i be in awe of them. not even if they have done something more worthy than take a strange 6 month vacation.
Thru-hikers are very much deserving of respect and reverence; many times I have sat around a campfire listening to them holding forth, they just have an air of majesty about them.....
Let's head for the roundhouse; they can't corner us there!
You have rather flawed logic. No one ever has demanded that you revere them for being a thru hiker. We have partial evidence based on your report, that one person felt the thru hiking experience was something rather special to him or herself, and seemingly wanted to extend that good feeling to other thru hikers. That one person demanded nothing of you. In my limited few months on the trail, I've never once run into a hiker who demanded that I revere them for being a thru hiker.
I have been impressed (I'm not easily awed) by quite a few hikers, based on their relative age, based on various things that they overcame to get on the trail. Again, there was no demanding involved. They just told their stories and I listened. Not one so much as asked me to be impressed by their thru hiker status.
I'm an atheist. I have been annoyed that hikers, and more often "trail angels" have asked me to revere their sky wizard. Evangelical types. Dependent on the degree of their insistence, yes, I was able to put my annoyance aside and be friendly for an hour or a day, because there was more to them as a human than their annoying evangelicalism. They had other aspects of their personality.
There was one guy on my three month hike I absolutely hated, and I actively needed to avoid. He, in fact, demanded that I revere his god, he chastised me that I wouldn't play along with his "quiet while we say Grace" crap. He used manners as a bludgeon, to push his views and demand respect for his goofy beliefs. He used his religion in a negative way to tear down women in general, to tear down his wife specifically, and to denigrate heathens, to denigrate Muslims in general. I was stuck in a hostel for a zero day, and it was very difficult to avoid him. He barged in on conversations, he refused to listen to anyone else and he just preached non stop.
So, yes. I could see why you might be upset if a thru hiker actually behaved in a similar manner, and ruined your hike for a few minutes, or an hour, or a day. However from the story you told us, the logic just doesn't indicate that happened at all. One person left a goofy quote on a wall, a quote that demanded nothing, that you've blown out off all proportion. That you've chosen to interpret in the least flattering way. That you've chosen to use as evidence that thru hikers are part of some kind of some entitled class who have way too much pride, and that pride offends you for some reason.
People brag about things all the time. (I react differently based on the circumstances) I got a new convertible, I've always wanted one (Good for you, you realized a dream... that I don't really care about.) I have a great grand baby! (That's wonderful... please don't make me look at pictures of the little potato.) I learned to walk again after my horrific accident (I'm genuinely impressed!) I beat my depression, got in shape, saved for years, and I'm trying to thru hike the AT! (Hey, that's great, it's good to have goals)
The backstory matters. The individual matters. If the backstory doesn't matter to you, then that's kind of a shame, because you're missing out on interacting with a lot of great people over a single issue.
Very disappointed in the way this thread has evolved....why not respect the thru-hikers? Just imagine what the AT would be like without them
Let's head for the roundhouse; they can't corner us there!
Once, many years back, I was staying in a hostel in New Orleans. While trying to sleep in that raucous, uncomfortable place, I saw a piece of graffito on the bunk bed frame above me that really resonated with my thoughts at the time and seems oddly apropos to this thread:
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
"I am learning nothing in this trivial world of [humans]. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news." --John Muir
I hear you about "everybody is above average" and "gold stars all around". Personally I like Walmart and go there a lot, maybe that says something about where I fit on the intelligence bell curve. It is a great place to people watch. Every now and then you run into a real Wal-Martian as I call them because they must be from another planet.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
You don't have the stupidest family in the world, you don't have the goofiest family in the world. And if you ever need to verify that, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Five minutes at a fair, you'll be going, "You know what? We're all right. We're dang near royalty!" - Jeff Foxworthy.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
expected? deemed themselves worthy of? demanded is probably slightly too strong of a word, doesnt change the point.
as one of the first people who responded said- reverence is something others bestow upon you, not something you decide you are worthy of. one can easily see that deciding you are, even if you in fact are, might negate that state.