By Kirk Deeter
I was impressed and gratified by the outpouring of support for the little piece I did on public lands in the last Angling Trade and Flylab newsletters, inviting those who don’t favor keeping public lands public to do the rest of us a favor and get the F off of them and stop fishing there. Thank you.
I also got a number of notes saying we all need to be even more assertive. To wit, someone wanted me to spell out the F-word for more effect. Sorry, we’re keeping AT PG-13. But I get the point, and trust me, if I spelled it out as much as I said it, this would be a whole different deal.
Then, within hours after Congress thankfully stripping away the ill-conceived sale of public lands part of the proposed spending bill (that ultimately passed the House) I got a handful of pithy press releases saying how certain NGO conservation groups “applauded” this occurrence. This, despite having already said for the record how I feel about “applause” press releases. Who cares about the applause? I don’t.
I am very much interested, however, in all you do to affect such decisions and actions though. And some of you already did a helluva lot more than applaud, and deserve better. I also agree that we need to be more assertive and actions speak louder than words.
I’m sorry, but you’re not a hero because you care about something. You might be a hero when you do something and make a difference. Granted, that can be as small as making a phone call, sending an email, sending a bit of money, or rolling up your sleeves and getting your boots wet too. Your time, your words, your muscle, and commitment are worth more now than ever.
But if all you do is stand on the sidelines, it doesn’t matter if you applaud or boo. Because you’re not really in the game are you? And these days, we all must be in the game, and to really win, we’ll need to do more than show up and participate.
3 Comments
“Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.”
– Edward Abbey
I think you mean the ones that shake their head and say ” That’s awful, something should be done about that.” And then, “Got to run, it is time for Wheel of Fortune.”
Meanwhile, Senator Hickenlooper exhorts you to ignore the dirty bathrooms and come fish RMNP. If you can get in.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ltrC0GutzQI