Escape.

A friend of mine's father was in ailing health. I feel guilty that I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to the guy until he was in pretty bad shape. Once I started listening to what he had to say, I felt like an idiot for not listening all along. He had some profound things to say, and had a way of saying them that was unique.

To elaborate, my friend had hit some really hard times. Some really bad stuff had gone down, and we were at his dad's house. Things were so bad for my friend at the time, that anywhere around supportive family was better than anywhere else. I was seriously concerned he may kill someone. Seriously, it was bad.

In the midst of dealing with this mess, my friend went outside for some air, and to stew in his own thoughts. When he walked out the door, his ailing father looked at me said said, "You need to take that boy fishin." I looked at him quizzically, thinking, but not saying "gee, how in the world is 'fishin' gonna help anything in this mess?"

He continued, possibly in response to my quizzical look. "When that bass hits, a man ain't got a care in the world."

Now, I'm not even an amateur angler. I fish a good bit. But my friend's now deceased father's words have been ringing in my ears for years now. "When that bass hits, a man ain't got a care in the world." The more I think about that, the more true it is. When that bass hits, the universe is boiled down to two points connected by a piece of nylon line. There is no crime. There is no welfare. There is no war. There is no long-running family disagreement. There was no argument last night. There is no poverty. There is nothing but a bass, a line, and you.

The fight might last all of thirty seconds. But for that thirty seconds, there are only two things in the entire universe. You, and that bass. And in the end, if he breaks the line or spits out the hook, it's really the same as if you land him on the bank or in the boat. For an instant, all of existance was boiled down to two points and a line.