To Fish, or Not to Fish

 

by Bob Randall

("Ranger Bob")

(Editor's note:  As promised, here is the first in a series of postings by "guest bloggers."  Bob Randall wrote the following piece especially for "The Ramble.")

(About the Author:   Bob Randall, a.k.a. "Ranger Bob," is of former college roommate of mine who earned a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Life Sciences with an emphasis in Biology.  He has an extensive interest in conservation and climate issues.  Bob served twenty-six years as a Park Ranger with the National Park Service.  He is now retired and spends as much time as he can trout fishing!)

To Fish, or Not to Fish

by Bob Randall

I was getting ready to go fishing while my wife was watching the morning news. I heard the news person say that hate crimes were up and they would tell us why after some messages. My wife and I said in unison: “It’s Trump’s fault!”  

The news person went on to say that people were being radicalized by social media. That is probably true. Now, Trump didn’t create social media. Everyone knows that was Al Gore’s doing. No! Wait! He created the internet.  

Anyway, Trump doesn’t make people get on social media. He gave them permission and encouragement to go to the Capitol to threaten and intimidate legislators into overturning an election. He encourages them to search out places where they can hear opinions that line up with their own opinions or maybe go even a little further, and further, and further, ad nauseum into radicalism. Trump didn’t create an educational system that doesn’t teach critical thinking. Trump doesn’t care about abortion or the separation of church and state. He doesn’t really care about gun possession or law and order. Trump has no conscious idea about any of that except that by playing to those ideas, he has opened up a fan base. He is a witless leader. They are witless followers. And neither Trump nor his followers care. They adulate him and play to his narcissistic needs. Together, they create a sick circular positive feedback system. Imagine a lab rat that gets food when it correctly completes a maze. It doesn’t know why; it doesn’t care.  

It crossed my mind that Pa Rock would want some specific examples to back up my assertions. Maybe some other time. You already have some specific examples in mind of why I’m right or why I’m wrong. That’s part of the problem. We look for ideas that confirm our pre-existing biases, create straw men to knock down, and then make false comparisons. We all do it. The challenge is to know that we’re doing it and then correct those errors. Right now, I’d rather talk about fishing. 

Fishing wasn’t very good that day. I watched the water surface for emerging insects and the rings caused by rising trout. Finally, in a pool protected from the worst of the current, I saw them. The hatch only lasted about 15 minutes. The emergers were so tiny that I never saw them, just the trout taking those invisible insects. They must have been midges. I had to cast across a swift current to get in the sweet spot and because the fly line was swept downstream as soon as it touched the water, I mended back up stream trying to keep my fly from being ripped downstream. A strike! In my excitement, I pulled the fly out of the fish’s mouth. I missed six more over the next few minutes and then it was over. I wish I could blame Trump for that. 

My biggest fear if Trump is ever re-elected would be that he would create a national blue law prohibiting fishing on Sunday. That’s a law I would violate.