Life is a Group Hike

  "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." - John F. Kennedy

  Today's hike would be in the clouds, seemed fitting that on the anniversary of the assassination of one of our great leaders that mother nature would  mist up.  I was 3 years old on that day, and my memories of that decade as a whole were thru the prisms of my parents eyes.  There would be other assassinations, more days of grief, students being shot on college campuses, veterans coming home to rude and unappreciative welcomes. The Sixties were a rough patch in our history, and many of our problems today are still unsettled fights from this time period.  But I would focus my thoughts on JFK today as I hiked up grey and wet Mt. Roberts.

  I wondered if JFK were around today what he would like to be remembered for.  Would it be standing up to the Soviets with steely eyed nerve, or perhaps our space program which he so fervently believed in.  Maybe he would be rightly proud of establishing the Peace Corps, or the first strategic nuclear agreement with those same Soviets.  He certainly did some great things on his short time on this planet.  And we can only speculate what he would be most proud of.  But to me I will remember him as a Man of Empathy.  He came from a wealthy background but somewhere early on he was taught to think of those less fortunate.  When he saw discrimination based on race he took steps to prevent it.  When the poor needed assistance he created the Area Redevelopment Act to address impoverished areas.  He related to all of humanity, no small feat when you grow up privileged.

  I was thinking about how this relates to a hike in the woods.  When you leave a trail head as a group there are several unspoken understandings.  One is that you will return as a group.  Another is that you can only move as quickly as your slowest member.  Another is that if one of your group were to wander off trail the entire group would assist in finding that person.  For lack of a better word I will call this connectivity. And to me this was the one quality which JFK should be very proud of.  He was our hike leader, and he was not content to see parts of the group left behind.  Our problems as a human race will improve the moment we all

understand that that we are on the same trail.  War will exist, as JFK said, as long as we value warriors over peace makers.  I would add that war will exist as long as we think we are all on different trails, and we fail to see the connections.  This life is a very short hike, we should be happy to walk with one another to the end of this trail.