Not 100% sure I've changed my tune - I still believe that there's a spectrum of backpacking, along which anyone can find an equally valid point. I also don't believe that it's necessary to constantly try to move left (or right) of that point to satisfy someone else's idea of where you should be.

However, I am glad to know that I misjudged your original posts, and that you never believed that there was a one-size-fits-all point on that spectrum. I'm also glad that we do have some common ground on the mindset needed for backpacking. I was also glad to see the other thread you started, about "more than recreational" backpacking - I think it pulls out the aspect of this thread that was creating the controversy: once you move beyond recreational backpacking on the spectrum, what do you get out of the sport?

I'm like everyone else, I can't come up with a better word than "toughness" - though of course I can try! What about "resilience"? (Or, as a writer had John Wayne say, "You're gonna spend the rest of your life getting up one more time than you're knocked down.")