To understand why, how, where we come from.
To respect those who came before us.
To honor those who have fallen innocently.
To honor and respect those who fight for our freedom. So often we forget that most of us do not fight for our freedom. Realize this today.
To reflect on bad guys. To understand that it’s OK to be good. To give. To share. To make others lives better. Not just our own.
To realize that we are so very lucky and fortunate to live in the U.S. of A. We have it good. Not all nations, peoples, cultures, and societies have it like us.
To thank those who protect us.
To realize that fishing is a privilege. Not all who walk this earth get to enjoy nature and the outdoors and fellowship amongst anglers many of us do. Think about how lucky we are.
To tell those around you that you love them.
To remember those who have fallen before us including those on this hallowed American day. To honor them.
To teach those who come after us. To pass on the family traditions that we so love. To educate them about the outdoors, the correct behaviors, and to respect the land.
It is important to reflect on days like today. On days like this. To spend a moment with our thoughts. To remember to be kind, to care, to share, to honor, to reflect.
It is important for us to remember to pay it forward. To love our neighbor. To open doors for little old ladies. To say hello to a passer by. To smile.
It is important for us to accentuate, applaud, and appreciate the positive in life. To not be so critical. To not be so angry. To not be so pessimistic.
It is important to reflect on days like today. Hug your family, have dinner with them, enjoy them.
Ed Note: Visited the site a couple years ago. Awesome emotional piece of ground. I suggest you include it in your travels if you are near. Remember the day vividly, as most, many of you do.
20 years. Man ‘o man. I still remember reading in bed when the phone rang. Longtime Mo River Legend Dave Ames called me up and said we should go fishing. He had been cancelled. I had the day off.
He said that crazy people were flying planes into the Twin Towers.
So we went fishing while the balance of Craig anglers were staring at the television. Seemed like the right thing to do. Celebrate freedom, in Montana, on a river. Thanks Dave. That was the right thing to do.
It generally is. Fishing. And Famous Amos is considered by some, a spiritual leader.
I tend to agree…
18 Comments.
All these years later I have to wonder. What did it accomplish? The taking of all those lives, what did it accomplish? Are the bad guys any better off? Are they any closer to accomlishing a mission or goal than they were before. All the death and distruction for nothing as far as I can see. If anything it made things less pleasant for the bad guys. The one positive is that it brought us a little closer togather as a nation. What waist, what evil.
Mark,
Thank You for this post.
This should be published in papers around the county.
Well said Brother.
No, I was already back here. If I were there that day I woulda quit and got in the boat.
Meaningfull and moving
Your proud Father.
This one hits a nerve for me on the fishing front – let’s float this piece to the crooks of Northern Dynasty who want that Pebble Mine in Alaska.
A disaster in the making – short sighted, evil money hounds who’ll torch that pristine watershed and ecosystem with no concerns about the clean up.
I guided there – Morraine, Little Ku, Tazimina …. paradise in jeopardy. Had enough of the Superfund sites from mining companies who cash in and run? A sobering thought that makes me pause lately.
Agreed…. but we must not give up…..we still have the power of the vote and folks like these on our side…………………………………………………………………………………………………….https://educateinspirechange.org/nature/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-surpasses-100-million-donated-to-global-environmental-efforts/?fbclid=IwAR1L0RzurkS9gMgmI1xYfypxtjqQC_SsfSO1_oJKnlURRVgih_2UV7zkLvU
Hitting a (fishing) nerve . . . what did IT (bringing the Towers down) accomplish? “Evil” people have been doing Evil things ALL of ManKind, so it should be no surprise when IT happens next, whatever shape it comes in! I’ve Served (Navy) under 4 Presidents (Reagan, Bush-1, Clinton, Bush-2 / 1983-2004). 9-11 was one of numerous “disasters” from “both sides” during my tenure sailing the seas for Uncle Sam. Unfortunately some have only recently come to light thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests. Non of these Presidents are “Blemish Free” and some of their Misguided Failures had and STILL have (in some instances) lasting effects on the lives of Millions of Human Beings (all across the Globe). 9-11 surely was a disaster that Could/Should have been prevented – what a waste of Humanity! Don’t get me started on Corruption in Politics & Corruption in Big Corporate America; they seem to go Hand in Hand too often. Nothing New Here, I’ve “seen it” throughout My Lifetime, as have Our Parents, and will continue for the foreseeable future. A Future, by the way, which there won’t be much left of (worth living in) at the rate Humanity Ignores our Self Destructive Tendencies.
Not talking “War Mongering” here, referring to things such as John’s reference and ALL the other ‘out of sight, out of mind’ things going on right in YOUR Very Own Backyards (so to speak). I have Little to No “hope” for the “savior solution,” it is beyond “our” ability, IMO. Mother Nature will have her way with HER Planet, and when she is done ridding her “skin” of the “itch” that is human kind, she will begin to heal herself. But hey, I don’t give a S***, right! I’ll be dead, who cares about “The Kids,” they’ll figure it out, right? Sure. I feel better already . . . lets go fishing . . . don’t we forget all our woes when we’re fishing? “God Bless ‘Merica” – so some prefer to say.
Just some cynicism mixed with a twist of sarcasm – shaken, not stirred. Hopefully “shaken” enough to “awaken” some into ACTION.
“It is important for us to accentuate the positive in life. To not be so critical. To not be so angry. To not be so pessimistic.”
I wonder, if just for a single day we could listen to what Marc says? Agree this should be published nationally.
Thank you for sharing this very encouraging truth with us. I hear you saying from start to finish, “be grateful and let your grateful heart inform your behavior”. Thanks for turning the remembrance of this horrible event into something positive.
No I was already here by then. If I were there I woulda just quit and got in the boat
Nice article, Mark. Thanks-I remember that day. I wish I was in that boat with you and Amos.
I think you were manning the ship @ TS. Better for your constitution to be with Amos and I.
No I was already here by then. If I were there I woulda just quit and got in the boat
I went fishing on that day too….go figure Mark.
After the 2nd plane hit I picked up my elderly girlfriends dad Frank and took him to Pulaski NY for his his first salmon fishing experience .
On the two and a half hour ride up he told me about the Taliban.
It was the first time I ever heard that word.
We had a good day catching those big Kings.
Great post
Our grateful quotient always needs reminding
Great post – sometimes tougher to follow as I admit now. Do three things and you will succeed assuming you sharpen the saw while you’re at it as natural skill is incredibly overrated:
1. Do your absolute best – if you’re not tired when you hit that pillow, then maybe you don’t have enough goals or focus.
2. Treat others as you’d like to be treated – straight forward.
3. Do the right thing – we all know most times what this is – try it.
My wife is the best with this stuff….her mantra is if you show positive energy, then that’s what you get….self fulfilling behavior. Time to fish!
What we did post 911 was “right”…until we started nation building. If a nation goes to war it should be to win and then go home. Half assed policies that turn our military into social workers or police are always doomed to fail. I saw first hand how this would end up when fighting in the desert BEFORE 911 from Jordan to Kuwait and beyond while working along side some very capable and brilliant men from all branches of the services and intel agencies as well as local officials and military leadership in several countries. The idea that we build huge bases in country, fund an entire government, provide every basic service and prop up an economy is insane and many of us thought so and said so 20 years ago when it became clear that was the course we were embarking on in both Iraq and Afghanistan. 30 years ago we decided to set up such bases in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Bahrain. They are still there. Any operation in Iraq and Afghanistan should have been in and out SF operations and Naval support such as we recently carried out in Syria against ISIS. Beyond that let the locals figure out if they care enough about their own personal freedoms, those of their daughters and democracy as a viable system to act.
And I say this having had the VERY conversation with some all too smug Kuwaitis in a bar in Cairo in 1992 who made it clear that they were happy to let US servicemen and women die so they could go back home to their own country. Suffice it to say one lost a tooth or two.
Why one might ask would any middle eastern nation’s leaders want our bases and military presence? Two reasons, protection from Iran and money via corruption. The first reason may be somewhat valid, the second is factual yet ignored by administrations and congresses in secession. This corruption does not start nor end in the desert, it starts in DC. I remember 9/11 as a solemn day, one for refection on what we have sacrificed but also as a day to reflect on what has gone wrong with our nation. The corruption, chaos and betrayal of allies we all saw in Kabul was the tip of the iceberg. Stupid decisions are made for political reasons, and that is paying with the lives of Americans who are by any standard the first duty of any administration to protect. Who to point fingers at if and when we finally wake up and hopefully disengage from our own form of political civil war? I would start with top Pentagon leadership who suck political cock to get their first star and it get worse at every other sniff of promotion. Then we can look to the politician/enablers who reward them while lining their own pockets while holding the party line and also that of those from whence the mana flows to them. Even here in reasonable Montana we have a sitting Senator who went from failing farmer in debt to a net worth of $8 million plus within six years. So for me the solution starts at home by demanding accountability at all levels, from each party and the slacker media.
My two cents from a old combat vet and retired fishing guide with PTSD and a gimpy leg! On the bright side as I sit beside Big Spring Creek in my back yard, awaiting a few caddis and olives to hatch I can turn off the news, turn off my brain and do what comes natural to the sane. Catch a rising trout.
Thanks Bob. Appreciate you comments. Thanks man.