Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about my newly discovered anti-social behavior. My friendly wife and hiking partner, Kat, and I had just returned from a very popular trail in the mountains. The trail was over-run with young families, laughing and crying children, couples and church youth groups all trying to enjoy the wonders of nature. We hike hundreds of miles each year and I have come to enjoy the solitude in the wilderness, but I’ve never thought of myself as anti-social until that day. During this hike I was perplexed, irritated and inspired…simultaneously. Those three emotions don’t usually travel in a bundled package and I believe I was grimacing, squinting and smiling all at once. Because I received so many “looks” from my new trail buddies I am fairly certain that my non-verbal facial expressions were totally congruent with my wacky emotional state.
Each time that we would meet another hiker or group of hikers on the trail Kat would warmly smile and say “Hello” or “Good Morning” or something to that affect. Everyone could sense her sincerity and responded enthusiastically in return. Early on in the hike I joined in with the same kinds of happy talk, but my sincerity meter didn’t register that high. As the hike continued I shortened my greeting to “Hi” and then moved on to a little smile and then, later, a slight nod of my head. After a few miles I was reduced to offering only a slight movement of my forefinger. Meanwhile, Kat was irritating me with her incredible warmth and kindness to others on the trail.. She even managed to engage other hikers in conversations along the way!
Kat’s warm greetings on the trail were so sweetly given to each of those perfect strangers and her actions reminded me that one of the greatest gifts we can give to another human being is the gift of our time. Later, I was a bit embarrassed and maybe even ashamed that I could muster up only a slight finger movement. Fortunately, because I’m a man, I only hang on to guilt for a few minutes, but I did learn a valuable life lesson.
If I see you at Food City or Big Wally’s please don’t be surprised if I sincerely ask, “You doin’ alright?” As we journey through life it is a good thing to give others more than a token finger. That is just how it looks from my log cabin.
John LaFevre is a local speaker and co-author of the acclaimed interactive national park hiking book series, Scavenger Hike Adventures, Falcon Guides, Globe Pequot Press. Contact John at scavengerhike@aol.com or at his blog at Falcon.com. Artist G. Webb lives in Pittman Center, Tennessee. Gwebbgallery.com.
