Fishing Advice

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself." -Oscar Wilde

The following article was originally posted on February 13, 2007. I thought it was a pretty decent article about taking care of your relationships. What I didn't expect was how the title "Mending Fishing Nets" would become a search item for fishermen.

I was getting so many hits to the article, I had the sense that maybe it was a great article. Yet I tempered my excitement and soon realized the majority were from coastal locations. These were people actually looking for advice on mending a fishing net.

To make sure I didn't turn away those people, I changed the articles to give links to some actual sites offering that advice. I also gave these people an offer to return to my site later for motivation and inspiration.

I still get quite a few hits to these articles. So hopefully I'm providing a good service. In a way maybe I'm helping fishermen become fishers of men.

So here is the original posting:

Your life is like a series of connections, like the knots of a fishing net. Each knot is a relationship with another person. As these knots or connections grow, the larger the net becomes. Your impact on other peoples lives grows as well.

But you can't simply create a connection and forget about it. Each knot of the net has to be tended to. When a weak spot develops, a hole can develop. Not only your relationship but a piece of your life slips through.

When this happens, what is left will be difficult to gather back in. So mending and caring for each connection is important.

These relationships are more important than having all of the money in the world. These relationships define who you are. An old saying goes something like this, "he who dies with the most toys wins." But the reality of it is that "he who dies with the most toys still dies."

Tend to your life net connections, those relationships that will improve your life and others. The net will be there when you fall and help you when you recover. It will impact and connect many people to many others. It is your impact on other lives that will mean the most when life ends...a lasting memory to guide others when you are long gone.