Setting the Date (was: I’ll start)

I just put the kids to sleep, now it is time to put some thoughts out for discussion. One of the first things that we need to decide on is a date. That might affect the name of our event, which in turn might affect the mission statement.
Scenario 1. Memorial Day, which is a Holiday, and everyone will most likely have it off, which means lots of support. It also is a Day for Memorializing people who have died representing America. Someone mentioned the crowds on the trails, but personally, I think the more people who witness this event, the better. Some of the bad things are that it could be buggy. Also some of the trails could still have alittle snow, depending on the spring thaw.
Scenario 2. Sept 14, which is the National Remeberance Day for the tragedy. The good thing is that it falls on a Saturday next year. It is also a great time of year to hike (no bugs/no snow, hopefully). I can’t think of any bad things about this day, other than there won’t be as many people viewing this as Memorial Day.
Scenario 3. 9-11-2002, the actual anniversary. The good thing is that it actually is the proper day to do this. The bad thing is that it falls on a Wed. next year, which would be very tough for people to attend.
Scenario 4. A day that we choose which has no significant meaning other than it is the day we will run the event.

You all have valid points about which date would best represent our mission. I personally like 9/14/2002 for two reasons. First, it is the closest to the actual day. Second, that date being the National Remembrance Day would booster the awareness people would have to the mission since other communities throughout our Nation would also be hosting similar events memorializing the loss of our citizens. We have a year to plan this, so we are not going to solve all our logistic problems in one weekend. We all have a heightened sense of resolve at this moment, so after a little time and reflection, I believe we can reach an agreement on how best to proceed.

I will be gone until Monday, so I would like to discuss our options with Mary, Greg, and a few others who have expressed some interest in be part of the planning committee. This form was created so everyone can express open opinions and support for our mission.

To answer your question Head (wall) Hunter, next year a number of the hiking community will on a specific date (we are deciding that now) climb all 48 four thousand foot mountains in NH and display the American flag for an hour or two (another decision) to memorialize our fallen citizens who died in the World Trade Center. We will post all 48 mountains so hikers can then e-mail me or others (another decision) and I will put your name next to the mountain you wish to climb on that specific date. Our goal or mission is to have a hiker(s) on every four thousand foot mountain at 12:00noon of the date we choose to display the American flag and have a moment of silence to remember our fallen heroes.

Well this sounds like a good idea any day we do it. (That means count me in, by the way) I like the 9/11 date obviously because it’s the actual anniversary, but we’ll have a lot more support on the 14th. (again, obviously) It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to do this on a completely random day to show that we don’t need to wait for a date on a calendar to tell us when we should display our patriotism.
Anyway, I’m just signing on to something that others have started, so I’ll go along with whatever is decided. Just let me know when and where I send my mountain choices.
Wow! To whoever thought of this: Great Idea!

Some of the 48’s are more easily attained via backpacking trips, so maybe Saturday, Sept. 14th would work better logistically. People may be able to take a Friday off and hike in for the next day.

Hi all:

I agree with both Robert and Mary that we should not be lead astray by the petty bickering in HJ. I originally liked the 9/14/02 date because it allowed more people to participate given that it is a weekend. However, 9/11/02 would be a good choice as well for two reasons. First, it is the actual date of the tragedy and that might be more appropriate. Second, by having it midweek (Wednesday) we avoid the criticism that we are taking over all the 48 mountains for the event. I doubt we will encounter too many hikers on a Wednesday in September. I will just take a vacation day for the event and I’m sure others can do the same. However, I can go either way on this one.

On 2001-09-25 14:07, MMM wrote:
Third, what do you all think of this idea of raising flags from other nations?

Please try to post separate threads (which I did) for different issues. Otherwise we will get one long thread of unrelated topics. Thanks.

The thing that I find the scariest is that I probably encountered several of the more vocal hikers at HJ on a trail or two this summer and didn’t know it. Thank goodness I didn’t say anything that might be considered controversial as I passed them.

When I first saw the post about flying a flag on one or two mountains to commemorate the anniversary of the WTC tragedy, I couldn’t fathom that anyone would actually object to such a selfless act. Gee, was I wrong!!