Living A Static Life

Is or has your life been static, meaning you have not changed a thing in your life over time? I highly doubt it. Most do not remain the same.

I recall I was with an uncle, who as a young man delivered ice to homes when everyone had an ice box, not a fridge. He was the ice man, at 19, for one year. Flash forward to when he was 75 and ran into a guy he knew way back then. The guy asked my uncle if he was still an iceman. My uncle almost fell over.. “What the hell are you asking me am I still an iceman for? You ^%$)(_+ idjit.” and it went on from there.

What brought this to mind was a recent experience I had much along the same thought pattern. A guy I knew since I was a teenager recently saw some videos that Alan Halcon, Christopher Nyerges and yours truly made, and said I was full of crap and BS and asked when did I ever do that stuff. My response was, ” Well, you never knew me well at all and I know you think I didnt know a thing about the outdoors life, based on when I asked you question once when we were fishing about how you tried a knot. It was method I was not aware of. Since then, you have only seen me a few times for short periods over the last almost 60 years. I could not talk about the skills and not be called out if I didnt know what I was talking about. I have spent years perfecting my outdoor skill sets. My life did not remain static. I could not have written for a magazine for 7 years if I did not own the skills.” I was kind of stunned by his remarks, the man has no idea of what my life has been about. my respect for him went out the window. I thought he was better than that kind of thinking, guess not.

No one lives a static life. We all move forward and we take many paths. To think a person has not had the ability to learn new things and move forward is very rigid thinking at best. I know we tend to place people in slots and remember them as we last saw them. We seem to think they never moved on and grew.

I was in the Marine Corps. Afterward, I worked on shipping docks, drove a truck, installed TVs, painted houses and movie sets, and then had a career in the music business for 40 years. That career allowed me plenty of time off to pursue my love of the outdoors. I wrote a book for songwriters ” the song writers survival guide to success”. As teenagers, we became very enthralled with falconry and learned how to rappel over cliffs and learning the ways of an outdoor life. Camping was make do with what we had, though it wasn’t much by todays standards. There is always more to any person than meets the eye, or what you might think of them.

I’ve never known anyone who has not moved on and grown and have been surprised several times at what they have accomplished in life. This is kind of a rant, but I think it is easy to discredit someone when you don’t know any facts. It also shows a great lack of respect. The only thing that has remained static in my life is I’m still a Marine, once a Marine always a Marine—Static in its finest form.

By Dude McLean

Please feel free to post comments on my articles, I enjoy hearing from and responding to my readers. When you're finished posting your comment please click PUBLISH to share your comment with me and my readers.