Good in people

There's a lot of evil in the world. Most of it is due to people. To us. Large cities have a lot of evil because they have a lot of people. However, there is also good in people. The hike up Half Dome brought that out. For me it was one of the most enjoyable parts of the hike.

It's not that everyone was all wonderful. There were a lot of people on the hike. Some seemed rude or arrogant or just in a hurry. The reactions of the animals to us showed that many ignored the admonitions to not feed the animals. At times bathroom conditions and trail trash showed a lack of respect for the park.

Difficulty and danger put us on our best behavior.

On the hike, though, it was mostly good. People were polite and usually greeted us on the trail. People went out of their way to be encouraging and helpful. Most of us were thrilled to be in such an awesome place and just wanted to share with those around us. The difficulty of the hike also tended to filter out people who weren't pretty committed to being there.

People were especially polite on the cables.

The switchbacks and even more the cables really showed people at their best. On both people always let others pass by when needed. There isn't a lot of room on the switchbacks so we were always looking to see if someone was coming the other way and when we could stop or when we could pass. The cables have even less room and stopping at the safety of the poles was important. We always offered to let the other person go and politely negotiated our passing around them.

People coming down were always encouraging us who were going up. We returned the favor on the way down. I remember one man coming down as I was climbing the cables. He told me that the cables leveled out just above him. That was very encouraging -- knowing what lay ahead was important. On my way down I met an older man who was very tired at about the same spot. I was able to pass on the same favor.

We often shared our fears. In earlier posts I've mentioned the man who was scared of heights and the woman that wanted to climb the cables with us. I was involved in many exchanges on the cables of this nature. Again those coming down often provide moral support to those going up.

There was a friendly club atmosphere on Half Dome's summit.

At the summit people were also very friendly. There was no longer the exaggerated need for politeness we felt on the switchbacks and cables. But we were all very happy to be there and to share with whomever was around. It was kind of like we were all now part of a special club. Some of our normal barriers were dropped and we could be very open and friendly.

How nice avoid the evil of the world and to catch a glimpse of how good people can be, even if only for one day.