There’s so much going on in the world that each day is a cascade of tumultuous events, overwhelming to the average person. My Web browser is set to open to one of the national news outlets by default, so each time I search for something, up comes a rash of intriguing headlines.
Did you know Bristol Palin is pregnant again? I was just itching to click on that to find out the latest dirt until I saw a photo of one of my favorite actors with the tag, “People We Lost.” I’m too savvy to get sucked in there. They often put up the photo of a famous person even if the person who died was that famous person’s elderly father. Been there. Not going there.
But there’s plenty more to be “concerned” with. Beheadings here, mass murders there. What the heck is this world coming to? About the only thing that happens in our little corner of the world is the occasional meth lab blowup resulting in Kentucky fried drug dealer.
My problem is that I go to my Web browser with good intentions—usually to background some subject, look up a new product or check a writer’s use of a proper name or spelling—then I get sidetracked by the headlines. By the time I’m done reading them, I’ve forgotten entirely what I came to the browser to do!
I pretty much behave the same way at an outdoor or sporting goods store—now what did I come in here for again? The sheer volume of outdoor paraphernalia is overwhelming these days, and I love that. There’s so much good gear to choose from that I’m much like that five-year-old at the grocery checkout who is melting down over the well-placed candy rack. I totally relate.
As anyone who has ever hunted with me will attest, I love gear, and I don’t like to be without it. Yes, I have been accused of having a sporting goods store in my motel room on more than one hunt. You just never know when that one situation will arise that requires that special set of clothing, those specialized decoys, that specialized blind, the other shotgun and more of this and more of that.
That’s why putting together the American Waterfowler giant Gear Guide issue is so much fun for me, and I don’t think any of the writers who put together the gear sections are any exception. We all want to see what is new, tweaked or improved for the coming season.
But we realize that, like us, readers of the magazine probably get a little overwhelmed by all the gear out there, especially because the marketers of that gear do such an effective job of getting in all of our heads.
But hey, like my distraction with the headlines, it’s not like I don’t somehow welcome it. There must be some corner of my mind that seeks out the sensational. But there are more corners ready to pounce on a bit of news about a new decoy or specialized boat. I think for most of us, waterfowl hunting IS the great distraction. And we’re all on board.