Trout Republic

Back on Dec. 31, all my friends were like, “yay, we made it through 2020, we deserve a medal for that.”
While it is true, we made it through 2020, personally, I don’t think I deserve a medal as I had a pretty good year albeit did not get to spend time with friends and family. The upside is they didn’t have to spend time with Ol’ Dutch either so their year was phenomenal -- and also not deserving of a medal.
Still, there is plenty of complaining but all in all I guess most of us have food on the table, heat in our homes and safety from terror so it’s not that bad.   And sometimes you have to learn to just “get by.”
I think people are just worn-out both from actual events but probably more from the nonstop constant barrage of hyped up news about it. From the darned Covid to loss of jobs and income to lack of social gatherings, churches shut down, hospitals full and loss of loved ones and friends, this year has been a doozy and quite honestly, I think most people are just tired of hearing about it.
Miss Trixie and attended some of granddaughter #2 soccer games this fall and that’s always fun for a grandpa for sure. She is a good little player and scores lots of goals and of course I taught her all of that. Well, I at least taught her how to line up for the snacks afterward.
So, at the very end of the season they all lined up and got a huge medal for participation. No winning teams, no best players, no excelling at something just a huge hunk of iron on a ribbon that reminded me of the big medals awarded on the Wizard of Oz to the Tin Man and others -- gaudy, too much and unearned mostly.
This set Ol’ Dutch to thinking -- a dangerous pursuit according to Miss Trixie -- about just how many people are getting awards for participation in the world and it’s gotten ridiculous. We’ve all seen people getting lifetime awards, Presidential medals and such for some kind of “heroism” when it was really for just staying alive.
From movie stars to politicians they all line up to get some fake medal for just working, drawing a massive salary and going home. And they all smiled while being awarded these medals like the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland.
And what is more amazing is that a good share of them had failed miserably in so many ways yet there they stood, like some wartime hero accepting accolades and press for doing nothing.
And the use of the phrase “he did the best he could do” has really come into overuse these days as we do not demand or even expect people to excel but just to try. And I know full well that most people who flop are probably not doing the best they can but the best they want to do.
Now Ol’ Dutch has had his share of failures in different endeavors in life that he has been involved with but I do think being rewarded only when you succeed is what makes a person excel.
And our history is rife with examples of that and we can look to people such as Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, Thomas Edison and many others who failed miserably many times in life yet rose to greatness in the end. And no amount of vilifying by the press about these great men can ever undo their sacrifices that have benefited so many so don’t even start there with me.
And that brings me to 2021 and my new year’s resolution. Ol’ Dutch is once again in his annual competition with tonnage. I have entered into a contest of wills between my mouth and brain to lose some excess weight that somehow latched onto me over the past year.
Having been in this wrestling match many times before I am just happy, I didn’t get a medal for participation every time I tried as there would be enough metal to sink a cruiser.
I always hope to win this battle for good but Miss Trixie just told me with my mouth bigger than my brain there is no hope. Long live Dunkin’ Donuts!

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV of hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic