Don't try this at home

Remember that feeling of anticipation for the next issue of your favorite monthly magazine? It would be getting close to the first of the month and I could hardly wait for that next issue of Georgia Outdoor News, Fine Woodworking or Wood magazine; the old ones being so dog-eared and worn after only thirty days of use that they would almost fall open to my favorite picture or article if I barely even touched them. I would stack these treasures on a bookshelf or in a basket in the bathroom and only agree to part with them when I was threatened with divorce court! It seemed like as soon as I gave them away I would discover a need for one of the articles from last June; I knew I should have kept them.

Really this was not that long ago, but I have slowly become such an internet junkie that I no longer subscribe to any magazines. For me it is not a decision to save paper (though this is not a bad idea) it is more of an “I want it now” decision. I can find more information about my likes and hobbies in thirty minutes than I could in that entire magazine that came every thirty days! If I want pictures and articles I simply pin them on my Pinterest boards or save them to my favorites; my custom online magazine! Too easy? Well it does require an expensive machine and an internet connection…

But one of the parts that I find uniquely interesting about blogs and web boards, as opposed to printed magazines, is that you now know for sure the “letters to the editor” are being read…by all. I always found it interesting which letters that critiqued the previous month’s publication the editors chose to publish and I often saw it used as free advertising for the magazine. Given the amount of sometimes brutal and offensive responses I see on online articles I now know that I was right to suspect this. These comments often make me think that the world is inundated with certified nutcases, but I also think it has made people think twice about what they choose to publish. I’ve always thought that magazines spoke to me in a condescending tone; they have the “don’t try this at home” feel to them. Now I think they have to be a little more careful with that approach.

I remember a particular article in one of my favorite hunting magazines more than a few years back about turkey hunting. The author went in to great detail about another hunter he could hear from his blind that was attempting his hand at calling turkeys. He described the new hunter’s weak attempts and basically stated that if this was the best this guy could do, he should just go home; leave it to the professionals…the real hunters. I wrote my first letter to the editor. Of course it never made the magazine and as it turns out the editor had actually written the article. Surprise!

But this writer does not understand what a disservice he did to the sport of hunting by writing an article such as this. The future of any sport or business is in the people that are new to it; they should be encouraged. They are the energy that fuels it and keeps it alive; without them it will go away. If you are told that you don’t know what you are doing you will never know what you are doing. I know that we are all proud of the skills we have learned over time, but we will truly never master them until they are shared with others.