image by gromgull

A funny thing happened the other day in Arches National Park. Rich and I were on our way back from a really fun and challenging hike and had seen dozens of signs along the way asking hikers to stay on the path to preserve the biologically active crust of desert soil. In an enticing alcove full of crevices and minicaves in the stone, I saw a mother and her sons playing off the trail and indignantly said to Rich, “What are they doing? That isn’t the path!” He laughed and said, “Don’t you remember? You went and checked out the exact same place on the way out!”

Indeed I had, and I realized at that point that I am every bit as much of an asshole as everyone I judge and criticize. This judging and criticizing is especially easy to do when traveling, because there are so many people embodying so many unfavorable stereotypes, and I am around them much more than I am at home. From loud obnoxious campers oblivious to others at the campsite to hikers oblivious to the stunning landscapes around them, there are plenty of examples of people who don’t seem to get it, and who bring to life Sartre’s famous statement “Hell is other people.”

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