Imagine you are at the train station. You know where you want to go but you don't know how to get there. You see a group of people who purchased a ticket and they are talking about all the wonderful things they are going to see along the way. You buy a ticket and get on the train with them. When it starts moving, you hear them talk about the valleys, the forrest, and the mountains we are going to see. And sure enough, as you are looking out the window, those things appear. So you listen closer to them as they are looking in their books, researching what is coming next. You sit back and look out the window again and wait...and wait...and wait - three whole days you wait! And nothing!
Now you lean across the aisle and you scream at this group of people, "Hey! You are wrong. I've been staring out the window for three days, where is the next mountain you were talking about? You are idiots!"
OCM, Struc, SPORTY and all the rest of the group didn't sign up to be your tour guide. If you want to do the research, you can be your own guide. And just so we are all clear, this train will let you off any time you want.
Me, personally, I am looking across the aisle their luggage covered in stickers of all the places they have been and I am looking down at my brand new bag and thinking these are experienced travelers and I should get that book that they are looking at so I can hopefully join the conversation by asking intelligent questions, answer my own questions, and form an opinion of my own - and not lash out like a blubbering spoiled child that they don't want to sit next to. But for now, I am content listening to their guidance and anticipating the mountain ahead that they have been talking about. And I just hope, if the train is about crash, they let me know when to get off.
Thank you TLSSers.
