Turn It Off!

I am betting many of you were at least a little bothered with the FaceBook outage this week.

That reminded me of a meme I had seen.  Some of you are old enough to “get this”.

For those of you who do not “get it”, listen close:

This chord was struck again on a calm afternoon on the water recently.  Sound carries far over water.  I listened to a guy’s stupid cell phone ring all afternoon, WHILE HE WAS FISHING!

First thought that runs through my mind when I hear that is how annoying it is.  Second thought is that I will have no problem out-fishing that guy.

I have shared this quote before, will again.  It comes from an In-Fisherman article written by Matt Straw:

Besides, when I hear a cell phone ringing in steelhead country, I want to grab it and pitch it into the river.  No matter how smart that phone gets, it can’t match the complexity of a steelhead.  The real miracles are swimming free in wild rivers and finding their own way back to the exact spot where they were born 4 or 5 years ago with no need for a GPS unit, recharging, or a program written by a geek in a dark room then sold by a series of capitalists trained to survey your desires and pinpoint knee-jerk reactions to things that seem really, really cool yet make no real difference in your life and actually pale in comparison to that bird flying over your head that goes completely unnoticed.

Rule number one:  Toss that life interrupting, cancer causing, brain-wave altering, dummy box of a cell phone into the glove box.  Pay attention to life and the journey begins.  No matter how small or insignificant it may seem, it can lead to a pattern.  The marching of ants along a tree limb.  Pelicans resting on shore.  A gathering of birds.  A school of minnows.  The flight of a single mayfly.

A set of rings in an otherwise placid pool.

All of which, in the mind of an actual angler, just beat the hell out of the most sophisticated toys, games, and phones geeks can build in dark, sterile rooms.

Matt Straw, In-Fisherman on-line, Autumn Steelhead in Low Water, fall 2012

Yep, I am being a huge hypocrite writing this in a blog post, published on-line, and circulated all over FaceBook.  Unfortunately, in the media world we live in, I have to.

It is a fantastic tool.

Can be a life-sucking parasite too.

You better believe it is all turned off when I walk outta the office.  I hate that I even have to possess a cell phone.  There are several who know me that can tell you that I seldom answer it, usually do not even have it on.  If you want to contact me, leave a voicemail, text, or e-mail.  Then it may be several hours later before I see the message.  (Forgot a meeting recently because of that, and yes, I was ignorantly blissful, on the water!)

Do me a favor.  Soon as you finish reading this, turn it off, grab the rod, and GO FISH!

That is how you have a great weekend!