Good vs Evil

There is evil in the world. You cannot legislate this evil away. You cannot bargain with or reason with the evil. You cannot ignore the evil and hope that it goes away.

Evil people are going to do evil things.

The only real solution is for good people to fight the bad. We already have soldiers and policemen, but they cannot be everywhere at once.

Which is why it is absolutely necessary that good people, not just soldiers and law enforcement, be allowed to fight back.

If you want to bury your head in the sand and pretend that the world is not a violent place where evil people exist, well, that’s fine by me. You can take a hands off approach and let the police protect you as best they can, if they can.

But you are not going to prevent me from defending my life and the lives of the people that I love. When seconds count, the police are minutes away.

Awareness?

I’ve got an issue with this trendy meme called “awareness”. What is it you think you’re accomplishing, exactly?

I’ve seen it all over the Internet. Change your profile picture to your favorite cartoon character to “raise awareness” of child abuse. Grow a mustache in “MOvember” to “raise awareness” of men’s prostate cancer. You know, stuff like that.

Awareness? I’m pretty sure we all know child abuse and prostate cancer exists.

So what was it again that your mustache accomplished? Has your mustache somehow cured prostate cancer? Has it magically empowered researchers with superpowers?

What about changing your profile picture on Facebook? Did that act of awesomeness save the world from child abusers? Did all the child abusers of the world see your profile picture of Yogi Bear on FaceBook and decide never to abuse children ever again?

“Hey man, I grew a mustache in November. I’m down with the cause. Where is your mustache? OMG you’re so insensitive. It’s jerks like you that allow prostate cancer to exist.”

Raising awareness doesn’t do jack shit. It exists solely to make people feel better about their lives, with very little to no effort on their part.

Whatever.

I miss Trinity

I started hunting about 10 years ago.

My first trip, and all trips afterwards, were to uncle Stanley’s cabin near Trinity (Clair Engles) Lake.

That property is a special place to me. It’s full of great memories. I have looked forward to going there every year since my first.

But then last year we didn’t make our annual October week-long trip. Nor did we go this year. That left me feeling a little out of balance.

Last year we went camping up by Mt Lassen, my old stomping grounds. We camped near Mineral and hunted the local area. And me, knowing the area very well, spent the good-weather days fly fishing my favorite streams. It was a good trip, although very cold at night, but I missed Trinity.

This year we went to Nevada. Six of us went, and we came back with 3 nice bucks. That kind of success is all too rare in California.

Jimmy’s parents in Rye Patch were extrememly generous. Our accomodations were very comfortable. I am very thankful for the opportunity.

Nevada hunting is much different from California hunting. In California, we hunt in heavily forested areas, and our shots at deer are very rarely more than 100 yards. In Nevada, there are no trees, and we can see deer a mile (literally) away. Our shots at deer were at the limits of our abilities. The high desert was a once in a lifetime hunt.

I enjoyed my trip to Nevada, but I REALLy missed Trinity.

Two years in a row without a trip to Trinity? I never want to do that again.