October 16, 2018 by Mike
What a great trip we had to the North part of the port. I’m the fisherman, but you knew to drop a line in the kelp beds and not the rock. I enjoyed our conversation about fear and put downs. These are stereotypes I’ve heard all my life. A bully discourages people because he or she lacks confidence to achieve goals. A bully feels less than and passes it onto others. Yet, I thought people with discouraging things to say to me, said these things because I wasn’t enough.
Here is a situation about hunting because this is the context of the discussion with unhelpful people. I would ask other hunters for advice because hunting has been an endeavor of mine for decades. Many times the input was not what I was looking for. I figured I made the wrong choice asking questions because that made me vulnerable to puts downs. Here are some of the comments that discouraged me: Who cares about plant identification? Mugwort is stupid. You don’t look big enough to pack out a buck. Why don’t you carry a pistol? That buck you killed is cute. Hurry up. You’re a slow poke. You don’t have enough experience.
As I write this I’m laugh that they even bothered me. I think I’m in a different place. I’ve read biographies of different hunters. I didn’t let negativity stop me from inquiring ways to improve my hunting. Surprisingly all these biographies reported that other hunters received similar comments and put downs.
Over the decades I’ve created friendships with people who embody the traits make good hunters. Some of these men have: traveled to the Brooks Range in Alaska, filmed hunting tv shows, fought in Afghanistan, sailed solo to the Channel Islands. I’ve always been stubborn so I kept asking questions. Will you go hunting with me? Now these men have accomplished ten times the life experience of those previous hunters I used to admire. They all said yes they’d go hunting with me. I still looked vulnerable, but the exceptional men used their words to build up and encourage. That’s the way I intend to treat everyone around me.
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