01/04 What's really important

  • by Rick Hill
  • January 5, 2011
  • 276
                        
This column was supposed to be a recap of all the things I got to do in 2010. I spent a little time making notes, and reflecting on those 12 months of traveling around the country hunting, fishing, and dog trialing Unfortunately, after driving thirty two thousand miles, and spending way more money than I would ever admit to my wife, there isn't one story that bears repeating. I got skunked deer hunting, didn't catch a trophy fish, and have kept my dogs from excelling on the trial circuit with my lousy shooting. I almost got myself depressed about wasting so much time, and money without having anything to show for it. That was when I remembered something that Earnest Hemingway once said. I can almost hear the collective gasp as you ponder that last sentence. You are thinking how can this nimrod that has trouble putting together a coherent sentence have the nerve to quote one of our countries best writers. Fear not, I am quoting Hemingway the outdoorsman, not Hemingway the writer. Sixty years ago in an interview he stated that “all bad writers are in love with the epic”. I have to admit that was one of the few things the man ever said that stuck with me. The only thing I remember about reading The Old Man and The Sea, and Green Hills of Africa in high school was that they were way longer than my attention span. Being unsuccessful in my outdoor adventures has become a lifestyle for me. They always start out with grandiose delusions of over size antlers, world record fish, and skies filled with game birds. My results usually come in somewhere between average, and below average. As I was considering ways to enhance the results of last years endeavors, it occurred to me that I got to spend hundreds of hours doing the things I love to do. In the general scheme of things, very few of us will win all the time or accomplish all the things we set out to do. I have taken a lot of solace in his statement since I read it thirty five years ago. I think he was trying to say that too much ink is wasted on the accomplishment or destination, and not enough on the journey. We all have a picture or mount of our best buck. Would it mean as much without your memories of sitting quietly in the woods watching the sun rise, and listening to nature come to life around you. Would reeling in your biggest walleye have been as fond a memory without spending a day on the water with your buddy. For me, it never would. Several folks have commented that my email address is no longer at the end of the column. If you would like to comment on a column there is an easy way to do that now. Go to www.holmesbargainhunter.com and click on columnist, then click my name. Most of my columns are there with a place for your comments. Catch you later Rick Rick Hill lives in Wayne County with his wife, daughters, and a kennel full of well bred, poorly trained bird dogs. E-mail Rick at rhil8147@embarqmail.com


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