Lessons From A Pandemic

​United we stand, divided we fall. If this doesn’t hit the nail on the head, I don’t know what does. Our nation is more divided now than I can remember. It seems like we have come to the point of hatred towards anyone that doesn’t share our same beliefs. I look at my son and think about his future, I wonder what this world will have to offer him when he becomes a young man trying to start his own journey. I’m disappointed in the actions of our nation’s authority on both sides of the political aisle. We are better than this!

The hot topic these days, to vaccinate or not, has been used as a giant wedge. It is causing a cancer on our constitution as well. Let’s put aside personal feelings for a second and ponder this. Taking freedoms from people because they don’t want to do what I want them to. Is that fair? Is that what the USA is about? Absolutely not! It doesn’t matter if you got the vaccine or didn’t, either way it is your God given right to choose your own path. It’s a freedom protected by our constitution to be able to make our own decisions. Now some of those decisions have consequences, so that’s something we all must live with when we make any choice. Some are good, some are bad, some may even land you in jail…. either way you have the freedom to choose.

I know one thing for sure, I do not want my son to grow up believing he has to give up his freedom of choice because someone else disagrees with him. I will not teach him to be disrespectful towards those who disagree with him. I will teach him to be respectful and to stand up for what is right. To be a leader and help those who need it. That starts with me. I cannot expect him to be that way if I, myself do not lead by example. We are showing our children that it is ok to be this way if we don’t speak up. We have to come together and fight for each other. Again, it doesn’t matter what side you land on, we have to fight to keep the right to choose that side. That’s something we can all rally around and become united again.

Fishing is a lifelong hobby of mine that has taught me many life lessons. Its taught me patience. Tournament fishing has taught me how to make a plan based on patterns and my individual skills. It has also taught me how to be flexible in my plan when things don’t go as I expected. It showed me how to be humble in success and failure alike.  But more than that, tournament fishing has taught me how people of all different beliefs and backgrounds can come together and share in the same thing. If you have never paid attention to the professional fishing arena, I encourage you to. The guys and gals of the fishing community are some of the most down to earth, genuine people you will ever meet. And the best part of that is, we don’t care what side of the politics you are on, for those few moments during weigh-in we are all the same. We all just love to fish. We love being on the water and we love all things that are bass boats and fishing!!
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I think our nation could learn a few things from the men and women of the fishing community. People will disagree. After all none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes. But that does not mean we can’t come together over common ground and fight for what is right. Our founding fathers were brilliant. They had enough foresight to see the potential for failure. So, they set up the Constitution to make sure that there is always a system of checks and balances to keep the playing field level. But, if we keep on the path of selfishness and disregard for the basic right to freedom of choice, we could set fire to that very freedom, and it will be lost forever. We aren’t vaxers or anti-vaxers, we are human. And regardless of personal beliefs, each of us deserves the right to choose freely. - Cody