Has anyone become interested in a pastime? How were you received by the practitioners? Were they helpfull, or did you receive the arrogance of 'experts' all to ready to snicker at your low end racing bike, cheap survival knife, out of the box RC airplane or Karate Gi in a Judo class? Did people descend on you ( and your wallet) with every piece of junk they accumulated becoming 'experts?' Once initiated into the hobby subculture , Do you look upon outsiders as unwashed masses who don't 'get it?' This pursuit of ours should embrace everyone. We aren't going to be 10,000 raptured Christians, initiated into Skull and Bones or make Time Magazine person of the year. It isn't going to happen, sorry. When we hear of people who get lost, buy a Gaitor knife or worry about planetary flips of the gravitational field- take a deep breath, smile and talk in low soothing tones- not hilarious howls of laughter and finger pointing. We all do this. If not here, somewhere in other activities.BTDT <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Well said!

I also look for those who are willing to listen, learn and question. I've had many hobbies over the years. The hardest one to break into was technical scuba diving. It seemed everyone had a strong opinion and getting it wrong could lead to your own death. A strong incentive to do as much research as possible. Now I sit back on the boat and feel comfortable about my skills and knowledge and try to pass them on as much as possible in a calm, quiet and controlled way. It was a long road and I took it step by step. Skills devolpe over years of real world use and you need to practice them all the time.

Adam

We should all remember, -that once upon a time, -we ourselves were Newbies. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Skater[/email]

The only thing I know for sure is, the more I know, the more I don't know. Sometimes it's crappy to be 40+. You realize you may not live long enough to learn everything you want to. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Craig

There's a story that some well-known mathematician, when asked what his idea of heaven was, said "It's where I can go and say to the Big Guy, 'I give up - what's the answer?' " <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I recall a math teacher, back in high school, who put us in our place a couple times when we thought we understood everything we needed to know and stopped asking questions, you know, typical teenage know-it-all... anyway, he'd say something like:

"young man, unless you change your attitude about learning, I probably have already forgotten more in my life than you will ever know in yours"

As others mentioned, I think the people who are at the peak of their profession, or hobby, are always looking to improve, to learn from someone else, and to be humble enough to know that they don't know it all... The ones who don't have that humility, can be a little scary with their obsession, and their belief that they already "know-it-all". It seems like the most respected folks in this forum are always willing to share what they know when they have some expertise, but, also seem genuine when they are asking a question, and enjoy learning about a technique, product, or tidbit of knowledge from someone else here. It's refreshing.

Hey, I like being the guy who can fix things! Most everything in my EDC get used for everyday stuff.

TRO