#1838479 - 03/14/10 10:48 AM
Just felt like writing........
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15480
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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I woke up this morning with a major urge to write. I guess that "jonesing" would be a better term.
I am sitting here listening to a podcast from ESPN Radio. It's called Stillers 360....."Stillers" is a Pittsburgh term....haha.
In case you have not figured this out by now, I am a passionate person. If I love something, I am all about it, all the time. That's why I'm here every day possible and that's why I read and listen to anything "STEELERS", 24/7. Sometimes it gets pretty bad when I am away from my computer for a few days......I think that I sort of know how a "crack addict" feels....haha..j/k.
Anyway, enough about me and my "addiction"......
During the podcast, the broadcast team began discussing the whole Ben Roethlisberger issue and I began to think about how important "character" is.
Character is the one thing that I believe to be the "GUTS" of any man or woman. In many cases, character does not play much of a role in the success of many people simply because skill level and a lack of a conscience are often far more useful tools. Sadly though, character may indeed play a huge part in many a failure, if you bank your successfulness only on wins and losses.
In most every aspect of life, in one form or another, the good guys do indeed finish last. I was going to briefly discuss the type of people that I feel have a discussing lack of character, but when I started the list grew and grew and I began to ramble as I often do. I decided to delete all of that and just go back to why I'm here.
As hunters and sportsmen, we have an obligation to put "character" at the top of our list of "desireable" traits. Often times we read here where the term..."if it's legal, I'll do it"...is repeatedly used. My question is...."What does that REALLY mean".
When a politician tells us that he or she will do something when they get into office and later declines to comment about that statement and he or she may tell us that it's "complicated"...., we seem to look over it as "political jargon".
We may feel cheated or lied to, but since lying is not illegal unless it involves some sort of "verbal contract", then we once again blow it off as political BS and don't really dwell on what type of "character" it takes to stand up in front of millions of people and purposely lie to them. Unless someone breaks a law, we soon forget what kind of person he or she really is.....and even when they do break a law, something as simple as an apology is all that it takes to be forgiven and forgotten. Character doesn't seem to be something that we hold "DEAR" and I find that very sad.
Just because something is "LEGAL" does not always make it right or the best thing .....Similarly, just because you abide by the law does not necessarily mean that you are a high character person.
At the present time, there are several things that I do not believe to be "high character" tactics by hunters, even though they are "legal" in our fair state. I won't go into them because I don't want this to turn into a thread filled with arguing and terms like......"holier than thou".
I will say that if we indeed held "character" at the top of our list of things we would like to be rememberd for and not so much success, then every aspect of our lives would be far better, IMO.
Even though it is sometimes forgotten, character IS and should always be a major part of the foundation for every decision that we make. When we build a strong foundation, the little things have far less effect on our stability. What we WILL do to be successful in the field says a great deal about who we are and what we stand for......
If the best argument you have for doing something is that it's LEGAL, then maybe you should look into a career in politics.
BH
_________________________
There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict.
Walk away; the battle they are fighting is not with you, but with themselves.
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#1838487 - 03/14/10 11:15 AM
Re: Just felt like writing........
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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Pursuit Hunter
8 Point
Registered: 10/01/08
Posts: 2084
Loc: Way out there
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Well said.
Its unfortunate that there are so few public role models who exhibit the type of character you describe, particularly since it often is at odds with achieving the type of "success" that we often judge and are judged by.
That's the great thing about being a parent. We have the ability to instill character and values into a few special people who (we hope) will live according to the lessons we teach them and maybe even pass them along to a few others.
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#1838735 - 03/14/10 03:52 PM
Re: Just felt like writing........
[Re: Pursuit Hunter]
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Mike Belt
TnDeer Old Timer
16 Point
Registered: 03/26/99
Posts: 16930
Loc: Lakeland, Tn.
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Interesting topic. I couldn't agree more that legally may be a far cry from ethically or morally. Unfortunately the only measuring tool we can use for that is what each of us have inside our hearts. That's what character is built from. Again, unfortunately, some have character and some just are one, lol.
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BONE HEAD HUNTER
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