I'm okay, you're judgmental

I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I have something to say.  And that thing is:

Why people gotta judge so much?

I'm thinking here specifically of hikers.  In theory they are a non-judgmental crowd.  In theory the hiking community tolerates and encourages a wide variety of hiking styles and personalities.  But they're human.  They judge.  They judge rampantly enough that there is a phrase that is repeated frequently, which is "Hike Your Own Hike" or HYOH.  We wouldn't need a phrase like that if people weren't all looking at each other all judgey.

The point of HYOH is that everybody has different reasons for hiking, different abilities, and different desires.  I am not Nature Boy, hiking 40 miles a day.  Nor am I Slowride, walking five miles a day and talking to every passing hiker.  There is room in the woods for many, many different types of hikers.  And if you're not hurting anyone, I don't see what it matters how you hike.  (Though people's definitions of "hurt" vary wildly.  If you are not a hiker, you would not believe the uproar over people having and *gasp* USING cell phones.  Or having brightly colored clothing.  Or walking on blue blazed trails instead of white blazed trails.  Or walking southbound rather than northbound.  Seriously, hikers?  This is a problem for you?  Really?)

I am pretty sick of people judging me for how fast (well, how slow really) I hike, how much gear I carry, how fat I am (good golly people judge that), and any other aspect of my hiking life.  Why does it matter if I wear a mesh net so bugs don't fly in my eyes?  How could this possibly affect you?  Why would you give a shit that I am wearing long pants, or a skirt, while you are wearing shorts?

A lot of hikers are really young - high school and college age.  They have yet to reach a point in their lives where they work full time, sit all day, and gather the (usually) inevitable aches, pains, and pounds of adult life in an industrialized society.  I don't know what the excuse of the old hikers is when it comes to judging the abilities of others.

Now, there are definitely areas where I am quick to judge.  People who leave their trash in the woods piss me off.  People who build fires in unsafe areas (on grass or duff, for instance, or where there is no water or other extinguishing material to put out the fire) draw my ire.  Flagrant violaters of law bug me.  People who poop in the woods but won't bury their poop drive me nuts.  And so on.  Of course, I feel that all this judging that *I* do is okay.  ;)

I like to hike, and I like being in the woods, and generally speaking I like hikers.  But they sure do get on my nerves sometimes.

PS Some other time perhaps Debbie Downer and I will discuss the ways the equestrian community judges each other on piddly shit.