RE: Re: Private Waiting List
Judy Zachariasen (judyz@gps.caltech.edu)
Fri, 10 Oct 1997 11:33:04 +0600
> I cut a lot of fat from this message, but the implication
>is that people who are not self-employed or willing to quit
>their job to take advantage of a cancelled permit don't want
>to go badly enough to deserve it.Bullshit! In my career,
>many other people depend upon me and I have over 20 years
>invested. The point of most people who have a problem with
>the current system is that it is heavily weighted with
>commercial users when the numbers indicate that there is
>much more demand for private use and that the current
>allocation structure for cancelled permits gives no
>consideration for length of time on the list. I am tired of
>the condescending attitude from folks who don't have much to
>give up toward those of us who have invested in careers that
>don't allow long-term absences on short notice.. This is not
>to knock anybody's lifestyle-we'd all like to be able to
>live like Gypsies sometimes-but don't talk down to those of
>us with mainstream jobs. Let's fix the system
>
I see your point, but there is a middle ground here. It is because of
choices YOU have made that you can't leave. I think that's what Bill was
saying. It's what I think, too, to a large extent. I haven't gotten to do a
lot of things, including lots of Canyon trips, because of decisions I have
made, to go to school, get my PhD, do the whole shebang. I don't blame
anyone else for the consequences of those decisions, including not going on
Canyon trips every year. I also have friends who are "Gypsies" and they go
on trips at least once a year if not more. Their choice. The price they pay
is no home, no family, no steady income, no retirement fund, no health
insurance. That's not a price I'm ready to fully pay with the result that I
don't go on Canyon trips all the time, and I have to wait until my schedule
allows me. With 20 years invested in something, you probably have a house,
car, reasonably steady income, maybe a family - a lot of good things that
have come as a result of your efforts, right? Well, one of the prices you
pay is not being able to go on a Canyon trip whenever you want. The point
is, we all make choices about what is important to us and there are
benefits and costs to all those choices. We decide what our priorities are
in balancing those costs and benefits. I would love to have more
flexibility with this stuff, but I'm not ready to blame someone else for
why I don't. This is a perfect time for me to go on about 4 30-day Canyon
trips in a row. I just finished my degree and I have no job till June. I'd
love it if I could call up and say, well, this is a good time for me, so
I'll take my allottment of Canyon trips all at once right now please. Can I
have permits for Jan 1, Feb 1, Mar 1 and April 1? But I can't and I think
it would be a bit over the top for me to decide that was unfair. That's an
extreme example, but extreme examples are useful to illustrate points.
So, specifically to your points. I still think how much you want to go is
to some extent represented by what you are willing to do to go. It's supply
and demand just like the market place. How much you want something is
reflected in how much you are willing to pay, to some extent.
I don't dispute any concerns you have about commercial vs. private
allocations being unfair.
What is your suggestion for cancellations? Suppose someone cancels two
weeks before their trip? Should NPS have to contact everyone on the list in
order to see if they want the date? Shouldn't people who want cancellations
have some obligation to call up and ask for them? What is your proposal for
allotting cancellation dates on short notice that doesn't require NPS to do
all the work?
I have to say that you could be accused of having a condescending attitude
when you say that people who use the cancellation system as-is "don't have
much to give up." That's totally unjustified. People give up a lot, whether
through giving up a whole lifestyle of stability, or something more short
term. You don't think those guys with Bill gave up a lot to go on their
trip - quit your job, work double overtime, close your practice risking
losing patients forever when they go to another dentist? How do you know
how much they are giving up when they do that? It sounds like a lot to me.
It is more than you are willing to give up, right? There's nothing wrong
with either decision, but it is frankly arrogant to assume that what you
would be giving up has such a much greater absolute value than what they
gave up, that their sacrifice should be dismissed.
This is not to knock anybody's lifestyle. We'd all love to have a house, a
family and a steady income sometimes, but don't talk down to those who
choose different priorities.
Fine, let's fix the system, but remember, it's not necessarily "fixed" just
when it begins to cater to your needs rather than someone else's.
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