[pct-l] the obligations of a lifestyle

[Brett]

When your life revolves around long-distance hiking, and the 
main portion of your day finds you walking... or dreaming 
about walking, or planning for a long walk, or promoting 
your own trail experiences via website, trail journal, pod 
cast, speaking engagement, or similar...

What does it mean to claim - out loud or in a quiet place - 
that your significant contribution to the greater good is 
one of inspiring others by example?

Is this ample moral justification for the self-focused, 
personally meaningful, and ultimately addictive thru-hiker 
lifestyle? Does the "morals" question even mean anything at 
all until one begins to assume a public role through 
self-promotion?

As - let's assume - long-distance hikers in the public eye, 
can we get away accepting the adolation that we've sought 
for our addiction without the benefit of also humbling 
ourselves in a tangible, self-effacing way?

Are we morally obligated to seek the role of humanist and 
environmentalist as well?

Or can we, with much relief, just keep walking and checking 
the hit counter on our trail journal site, confident that a 
bright and beautiful world will follow?

- blisterfree