“For though they may be parted…”
Dateline: 2018 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I choose this gig because it revitalizes me.
I choose this gig because after a long season on the road, it heals me.
I choose this gig, the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, because it is … kind.
To me it shows that no matter what state the anglers come from, no matter what country the anglers come from, no matter their sex, no matter their religion, it shows me it is possible for all of us to be the Kind in Man.
Kindness.
“…there is still a chance…”
“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”
-William Arthur Ward
God bless those of you who chase the fish both physically and spiritually and who understand the symbol that it is.
It is the fish that can bring smiles to a roomful of strangers, many of whom do not even speak the same language but who yet understand the nuances of kindness, respect and understanding.
I no longer underestimate the sublime, those tiny messages seemingly sent our way in time of need, time of confusion and anger. As a columnist it is not my job to yell at you, it is not my job to pick sides, it is my job to simply tell you what I see and how I feel about what I see.
Period.
Nothing I tell you is news, I tell you stories, I tell you how I feel, how others feel, I write of opinion, do not confuse that as news regardless of whom is telling it to you. News is facts “It’s sunny out,” but “it’s too hot” is opinion.
Here’s my opinion, we can in fact get along, play well with each other, because every year at this time I walk into a huge banquet room full of strangers and all I see are smiles.
All I hear, is laughter.
And today that in fact may be news.
“…that they will see…”
“There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.”
-Nathaniel Branden
Out there somewhere we have a hundred or so anglers in competition with each other from about 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Around 5 or 6 p.m. tonight pretty much all of them will sit down with each other and break bread together at dinner. Some of them will be winners in the competition, some of them will be losers in the competition.
In the competition.
All of them have won the game of kindness, empathy and caring for each other.
I stand back and watch, watch the friendship grow between the people from Australia and the folks from Michigan, New York, Connecticut, any state, watch as they talk and smile, exchange email addresses or become “friends” in social media.
I stand and smile as someone whose language I don’t understand or speak comes up to me and in the universal language of “selfie,” takes a photo of someone separated by oceans, not thoughts, a bonding of kindness that is in its own self a universal language.
“…there will be an answer…”
“Any fool can know the point is to understand.”
-Albert Einstein
When I hit send on this column today it quite possibly will be the last column I write about the game of professional sports.
It is all I have done for the past 26 years of my life.
I have written about the big leagues as well as the Little League, written about sports endemic to America, and sports played around the world.
I have written about the pros and the cons.
I have written about the owners up in the skyboxes and their employees down on the fields.
I have smiled and I have frowned, I have laughed and I have cried.
And if I were allowed to ask just one thing I would ask those who will follow me here at covering this game to do so with kindness for those who play it and love it.
I would ask that you cover it with honesty in feelings and facts, bust those who should be busted, praise those who should be praised.
But leave a special place in your heart and words for those in the B.A.S.S. Nation, for those folks in this room and all those in all the other rooms to follow.
Leave a special place in your heart and words for those who play the game for the love of the game, who play the game to honor their local bass club, to honor their state or their faraway country.
Leave a special place in your heart and words for the members and their families for the yearlong sacrifice they make to be here for these so brief of three days.
And trust me on this one, leave open a place in your heart for kindness to come in, and may kindness flow in your words because it is here at the Nation where I discovered the Kind in Man.
Shown to me, by a fish.
“…let it be.”
Let It Be
The Beatles
Thank you for inviting me in,
db
“Life’s too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forgive the ones who don’t and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it’d be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.”
-Dr. Seuss