Back in my former persona as a blogger, three or four long weeks ago–back when I focused on the virtues of kindness, community and humanity–much of the foundation for what I wrote came from my study and understanding of early nomads. To recap in one sentence: our natural, nomadic societies were highly social; civilized societies have antisocial consequences such as anonymity, hierarchies and diffusion of responsibility.
Part of our naturally social expression lies in how we deal with those people in our society who cannot function well. Early nomads would compensate for the “lower production” of hunting and gathering from the elderly, while still allowing them to participate. There was more intimate affection and caring for the elderly in early nomadic societies than what occurs overall in American society, with one notable distinction. In many of these societies the elderly emulated what we witness in other animals: when they feel they are of no further use to their society they go off by themselves to die, while no one stops them.
I daresay early nomads had a greater understanding of the human spirit than our society does today. What is a life without some type of activity to give it purpose? Cindy is by no means considered elderly in our modern society, but with early onset Alzheimer’s she faces the same threat of losing her ability to be active. I witnessed what happened when we took care of my Mom with Alzheimer’s, the blank stares full of resignation. When she stopped eating at home the “early nomadic” response would have been not to interfere. Instead we sent her to the hospital and from there to a nursing home where she filled a few more months with blank stares and resignation until she passed. Did we nevertheless do the right thing? Hard to know.
There is no better activity to give Cindy purpose than to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Cindy, the first woman to successfully thru-hike the Continental Divide Trail in 1985. Cindy, the first woman to continuous hike the American Discovery Trail west to east in 2011-2012. Cindy, the woman with over 11,000 miles of long distance hiking. Cindy, who lacks only the Pacific Crest Trail to give her both the Triple Crown and Grand Slam of hiking.
One important aspect of this activity is the physical exercise involved. We’ve already seen the benefits this provides to Cindy’s cognitive function. Indeed, that is why we chose the research going on at the University of Maryland to benefit from what we are doing. I hope that once our hike starts you consider donating to this valuable research.
We will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail north to south, from June 18 – November 17.
