Narcissism in America

Do not let the title of this blog run you off. It is not intended as a pessimistic outlook for the future of our society. It is merely a collation of interactions with other Americans. Have you noticed how often many of us seem preoccupied with getting ahead? You can observe this in traffic, at stores and, the workplace. When does getting ahead of others lead down the path to a cultural form of rudeness? As a society, have we lost the capacity for consideration or, are we like the seagulls in the animated feature "Finding Nemo"? Do we scurry about shouting "Mine" instead of politely saying, "excuse me"?

I spend countless hours traveling down the highways of America. The manner in which people drive often indicates a sublte form of narcissism. Yes, there are indeed rude truckers however, it is often the common personal vehicle which operates in an inconsiderate manner. I've lost track of the times that I've changed lanes for a merging car and have had to suffer the aggravation of that small vehicle as it either travels alongside me or, races ahead to cut in front of me. When did the highway departments remove the yield sign from highway merge ramps? During rush hour in major metropolitan areas it is common practice for cars to rush ahead of you, pull in front of you and then hit their brakes as they try to squeeze into the already full exit ramp. I wonder if they didn't notice the empty stretch of asphalt behind my truck? A couple of months back, I was heading northbound in Denver on I-25 during morning rush hour when a gentleman flipped me off because he had to slow down to exit speed and exit behind my truck onto I-270. He was angry because I was traveling in the far right lane and he couldn't safely cut in front of me. He was driving a black BMW SUV from Boulder, Colorado. He had two bumper stickers on the vehicle. One read "Peace", whilst the other stated to "Celebrate Diversity". He is either a hypocrite or he simply forgot to read his bumper stickers before getting into his BMV for the morning commute.

I am a hunter. This activity is my passion and every autumn finds me in the backcountry in an annual attempt to return to the essence of human nature. Buried deep within each of us are the hunter-gatherer traits of our ancestors. You do not dominate the backcountry. You either integrate into the natural flow of life or, Mother Nature is likely to provide you with an experience you'll not soon forget. The taking of game is ancillary to the total experience of living outdoors. You hunt to watch sunrises and sunsets, listen to ravens, laugh at the cocky chipmunk as he scolds you for daring to sit on "his" log, smell the sage and pine and, try to keep Clark's Nutcrackers from telling the world, "Hey, here he is."

In an attempt to reap the rewards of this experience, I choose to hunt in areas where vehicular travel is restricted. The US Forest Service utilizes a green dot marking system for the unimproved road network in the forests. Vehicles can only travel on green dot roadways. During my deer hunt, two hunters abused the system. On the night before opening morning an ATV barreled by my campsite and roared up the canyon I was going to hunt. The very next day, a hunter in a Toyota pickup drove up this very same canyon. I had walked 90 minutes into the canyon for a quiet hunt. When I informed him that he was in a green dot area, he stated that he didn't see the sign which clearly identified this region as a restricted travel area. He thanked me for telling him that he shouldn't be there in a vehicle however, he came back the same afternoon with his vehicle. I took great joy when I saw him later that evening with the forest ranger in tow. Being selfish cost him $300.

So there you have it, rude people live on the highways and in the backcountry. All is not dire however, because there is always a considerate individual on the periphery who re-validates the basic goodness of the human spirit. Oftentimes, people wave a "thank you" when I move over to let them merge and on the last day of my hunt, a party of five hunters waited patiently by their trucks as they watched me making my descent down the ridgeline towards my pickup. When I got to my truck, we exchanged pleasantries and a soda pop. For every rude, self absorbed person out there, somewhere on this planet is their polar opposite. Such is the yin and yang of life.