There is a middle way.

Letterboxing is a very simple game:

Plant a stamp and log;

let people know the clue so they might find it.

Go out and find the boxes planted by others. 

Repeat.

Group boxing or solo?

Baggies inside or out?

Plastic boxes or pouches?

Pigment ink or dye?

Many colors in your pack or just one?

AQ or LBNA? (or neither?)

Plant in businesses or not?

Urban or parks?

Log finds on AQ or not?

Photo as clue or decorative?

Leader or slackboxer?

Box with kids or not?

Recruit newbies or keep the game secret?

Nab as many as possible in a day or onesie-twosie?

Findability-rated or not?

Gouge or knife?

Pink stuff or _____________?

Which is real letterboxing - traditional, postals, or LTCs?

Staedtlers or anything else?

Hike or drive-by?

Camo-tape or none?

Share photos or keep them private?

Clear clues or cryptic cyphers?

So many controversies can kill the joy of the simple game, at least they do for me. Yeah - I am pretty thin-skinned, as some may know (they call it 'sensitive'). Maybe none of this bothers you, or perhaps it offers a bit of excitement to your life. Or maybe it is just the times in which we live - 

red or blue? 

white or black? 

young or old? 

educated or not? 

sedan or truck?

hunter or hunted?

urban or rural? 

vax or no? 

There is so much division everywhere, it seems such a shame to experience it in letterboxing, too. We don't always have to take a side. There is a middle way.

Each of these binaries are really a spectrum, a range in which anyone at any time can fall. But, when we are willing to 'fall on our sword' for our opinion, we draw lines and create us vs. them dichotomies that alienate, invalidate, and separate. We can have an opinion while acknowledging we could be wrong, or that we don't know everything. Just because we can make a judgment doesn't mean we are always right. And everyone else is not always wrong (or misguided). There is a middle way. 

I was directed to a couple of threads from a decade ago ... about the time I was falling out of the community. It startled me that a poster wrote that 'at the risk of being shunned,' they wanted to share a differing point of view. I have been shunned, and it is not pleasant; I wouldn't wish it on anyone. The belief that everyone has to either believe as 'we' do or they are out of the group, or silenced is awful. Btw, I am not talking about hate speech here (which is unacceptable) ... but just because someone likes to use dye ink instead of pigment out on the trail, or fashions a pouch for their plants instead of using lock-n-locks, or likes to use Speedball rather than Staedtler is not grounds for silencing or rejection.  There is a middle way.

I have just witnessed the latest controversy, and have been reading some that occurred while I was away. I have lurked and I have watched. There is a way other than controversy and competition. We are the ones that set the tone for our community. There is a middle way.

The middle way is humility, acceptance, and tolerance. The middle way is open-mindedness and creativity. The middle way says sometimes I want to do drive-bys and sometimes I want a longer hike, and both are okay. That some places are better for using lock-n-locks and some are better for pouches. The middle way allows for boxers of all abilities and knowledge to participate as equal members of the game, not simply newbies that don't know what they are doing. The middle way is taking box first-aid with you to help along the boxes of others who may be away from the hobby right now.  Because life.

Only some are allowed a voice or everyone's voice is valued?

Blog or keep your opinions to yourself?

Compassion or apathy?

(And the granddaddy of them all:)

Hand-carved stamp or store-bought?

Some of these controversies - discussions - can make our hobby a better experience for all. But when everything comes down to this or that, well, I don't need a hobby for that. I can get that in my news feed or out in my community. Some of us already feel so isolated, longing for social interaction and acceptance, and not all of it is because of the pandemic. Perhaps some of it is our own doing. Maybe we have fed the isolation through insisting we must always take a side. But not everything should be a competition to win. At least I don't think so. 

Maybe you don't agree with me, and frankly, I don't expect many will. Ah geez, SHH, give it a rest. But I just can't sleep with this popping around in my head anymore. And since this is my blog, I have the privilege to speak. And so do you. You can leave a respectful comment and tell me that I am wrong. But please, I ask that you remember the middle way.