I took the new puppy out for a walk this afternoon, at the usual time, and for the usual reasons.  Maggie is a puppy full and full; can’t stop eating, pulling on the leash, biting the rug, and the occasional slip up when I happen not to be looking.  It’s the kind of thing I’ve come to expect, like having an infant in the house again.  I’ll sit down to something really important, like change the channel on Pandora from Ripple Radio to Reflection, which I’ve so named for songs I enjoy.  And as I sat down at 6:37 PM tonight, a song by that band with the prism on the album cover begins; the acoustic guitar opening of Wish You Were Here is like the sweetest kiss from this little puppy of mine.  So I start reflecting on a issue that’s been arcing across the ridges and valleys of my mind for a while now, it’s colors not so bright and cheery any longer; and I open an industry magazine from today’s mailbox reflecting on the state of the fly fishing industry.

In no uncertain terms, the editor of the magazine sizes up what he sees as the biggest problems right now.  I hear “Running over the same old ground what have you found? The same old fear” floating through the speakers and landing pretty heavy on the subject – and that’s fear.  Fear in the industry is becoming a reflection on the many problems it faces.  That some should benefit rather than others is the pointed-head, spiked tail evil spirit in the room.  Tradition, the “way it is” and so on.  “What about me?” the battle cry comes, louder and louder.

What ‘s driving this fear, and I’ll ask another question – how visible is it to the “never will be an angler” or the person who probably won’t read this blog but has a few friends who might, or has a parent who used to, or who may live near a fly shop and always walks by but never in-person out there?  If you read the same publication I got in the mail today, before you even reached the 10th page, you will have read opinions, statements, and indictments about “why” the problem exists, “what” fear looks like down to the laces of its boots, and even the more other important “W” in the equation – the “Who?” this evil is.  Another timely lyric drops in – “Oh some evil spirit, oh some evil this way comes.  They told me how to fear it now they’re placing it on their tongues” is pretty much right on target.

I had a business teacher in high school whose favorite phrase to say in most every occasion was “Jesus said, the love of money is the root of all evil”  (actually, it was Paul who said it according to the internet but I’ve never quoted the bible).   Evil looks like someone else who wants to try a different idea, who wants to take a different path, who sees an opportunity to solve a problem.  That dank, unlit alley is a long, winding path that courses through us all, accelerated with a heavy push on the gas pedal by other forces – motivation, expectation, tradition, selfishness.  During a discussion today in that dark alley, I shed light on it – “thank you, but that’s what I do, that piece of the pie is mine, so bugger off.”  When we’re on that path of fear, it may be easy to find treasure along the way in someone else’s chest, but should we be afraid of that?  Or should that make us examine it and respond to it.  It’s hard to answer for you, fine reader, but I’ll sum it up from my point of view – if you want a piece of my pie, I don’t fear you, I fear my response.  Will I take note, and change, or will I rely on the past?

And so, I suppose (or, I’m told as I stop reading) that my response should be to look within, only seek relief with those who may seek the same, and forgo all else.  But I can’t help but read a ember hot idea burning through the pages about “the way to keep your pie is to make sure people think it’s yours.”  For you see, fear lives in the margins, and those small margins is what we’re all afraid of.  That ever darkening path of fear is a narrowing slim margin and it’s the most valuable treasure in the industry.  And it’s the  hardest stone along the path to break; for to continue to exist in the margins, it’s not really about supporting the industry, it’s getting your piece of it.  And there’s not a single person in it that isn’t out for it.  Once we all agree that this fear is competition, and that our own response is our own response, we can finally call it what it is.  And once you name fear, it becomes a lot more familiar..that Paul guy was pretty smart after all.

I feel pretty good about my (slim) margins and how I walk down that path right now – how about you?