NOTHING!!!
Posted on 11/01/2021 2:39:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
Thirty years ago, I was hiking alone on a section of the Appalachian Trail known as "Rocky Top" when I encountered two stocky young men. The thought occurred to me that they could easily kill me, toss my body in the brush, and get away scot-free.
Whether the thought occurred to either of them, I will never know. I passed them by with a brief nod and moved on quickly to the turn-off leading to my parked car. But I remained troubled, and remain so today, by the fact that I had been so completely at risk. I had been spared, but why? There was no practical reason why the young men shouldn't have dispatched me with a rock, stolen my wallet, and sailed me off the ledge. What restrained them?
Was it just the fear of getting caught? Or that I might be carrying a weapon, or might yell loudly enough to attract help? Or is there actually a moral boundary not to be crossed — a line that most humans have hardwired into our brains or that we have been taught? Was I just lucky that day to encounter decent chaps who would never hurt a fly, to say nothing of another human?
As the decades passed, I thought back to that meeting, wondering if the result would have been different had it taken place years later. Ten, twenty, thirty years later, has that moral inhibition dwindled to the point that the stronger group would think nothing of attacking the lone hiker? If I met such a pair today, alone and considerably less fleet of foot as I am, would I escape unharmed?
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
” What restrained them?”
Restrained implies they wanted to do you harm. In this case they had no reason to attack. Now consider if you had belonged to a different group than they did and they had been indoctrinated by media, schools, etc with hatred for your group. Now they have a reason.
Pack a 38 and stop overthinking it.
I loved that show.
You and your peers took Christ out of the schools, then wonder why nobody cares about anyone else?
Maybe some self reflection might be in order.
Samuel Colt made all men equal.
I once found myself in a situation described by the poster where the people encountered were not so benign. I was fishing with 3 friends (one a female) in a very remote area covered in tall reeds along a river bank. My 2 male friends went downstream to try a different spot and were out of sight. Shortly after four guys came through the reeds from the opposite direction and were VERY interested in my friend’s girlfriend. Bad things were clearly going to happen. Fortunately I was well armed (as were my other 2 male friends) who they didn’t know about. When I turned toward them and they saw the large revolver on my hip their attitude changed considerably and they disappeared the way they came. We quickly found my other 2 friends and got out of there.
In some groups of people being NOT FROM OUR TRIBE means less than human which means dead. Depending on the food supply it might mean eaten too.
There a surprising number of murders solved because of that show.......
I’d carry on the AT due to the wildlife more than any threat from other hikers, especially if alone—bears, coyotes and big cats. I have to around my own mt top lot.
Know it, live it.
FMCDH(BITS)
Did you detect banjo music?
“Be polite, be professional, but always have a plan to kill everyone you meet.” - Marine Gen. James Mattis
“Did you detect banjo music?”
Not exactly but one of the guys I was with learned about that spot from the outdoor writer for the local paper. He was told 1. There are more poisonous snakes in that area than anyplace he’d ever been.
2. If you see any smoke DO NOT INVESTIGATE (could be a still).
3. Be sure you have a gun with you.
I knew that 20 years ago!
Atheists are very upset when you point out how much of our decency has Judeo-Christian roots; Mother Theresa shamed Hinduism by caring for those India had determined had “bad karma”...
Someone only concerned with self-preservation will see all as potential threats and will rationally kill them all.
Someone balancing this purely rational thinking with emotions of love and kindness
will refrain from killing all that ‘might’ be a threat and enjoy the benefits of love and kindness.
Robert Stack did a lot of good.
Had a friend and his wife that were avid hikers. He was walking ahead of her maybe 50’, heard some commotion in the brush behind him. In the blink of an eye a black bear ran out of the brush in front of his wife to see if a meal to be had but started slipping on the wet rocky trail as it suddenly noticed him. My friend raised his arms instinctively to try and distract the bear, and it used it’s momentum from slipping to fly to the other side of the trail and off into the brush. Whole thing took maybe 5-7 seconds.
They’re now a closer couple when hiking…
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