By Wilson Love
One of the online dictionaries defines relic as “something old and outdated, possibly kept for sentimental reasons”. So…
If you routinely say, “please, thank you”, and “excuse me”, you might be a relic. If you open doors for the lady who is with you, you might be a relic. If you politely introduce yourself before launching into your agenda… If you haven’t used your car horn in a long time… If you let someone go ahead of you at the boat ramp/parking lot/post office, etc…. And if conversation is a two-way street for you, you might be a relic.
If you have written a letter in the last half of your life (no, not an email/text/post/skype, etc., – a letter; written by hand on a blank piece of paper and sent snail mail to somebody you care about), you might be a relic… If you think it’s weird that the basics of letter writing have to be explained to a whole generation of people… If you’d rather have one actual friend than three hundred FAKEBOOK friends… If you have distanced yourself from the phone addicts in your world… If you have always underestimated the number of times the word “like” can be used in an incoherent sentence… And if you think cookies are food, link is part of a chain, and surfing is something that happens at the beach, you might be a relic.
If you own a moral compass and know how to use it, you might be a relic. If you know that the land and the water are not ours to trash, and simple respect for people and property is your default setting… If you are not compelled to show the photo of your fish on your phone to the next man you meet… And if your fly fishing does not elevate you to a higher social class, you might be a relic.
If you and Jeff Foxworthy go back twenty-five years, you might be a relic. If you remember Maverick, Wagon Train, and Rawhide, your memory is good for an old guy. If you have listened to a NASCAR race on the radio because you didn’t have TV… If you know who the founding fathers were and can name three of them… If you can recite the Pledge of Allegiance… And if you are still reading this, you might be a relic.
If you stink at multi-tasking, you might be a relic. If you’d rather be the driver than a passenger… If senior moments are a daily occurrence now… If checkers is the only game you remember how to play… If you put something in a “safe place” and it worked, because later you forgot where… If you’d rather navigate by paper map than cyber directions and can change a flat all by yourself… If your workout happens at the garden, the yard, and the woodshed…
If your “cash cow” really is a cow… And if the bill of your cap and your nose are on the same side of your head, you might be a relic.
If a frosty morning, coffee and a sausage biscuit are your style, you might be a relic. If you are not fully awake until your second cup of coffee… If you will eat anything that doesn’t eat you first… And if you like your fruit in the form of homemade pies and jellies, you might be a relic.
If fishing tackle is a line item on your budget and you saved up to pay for your latest toy purchase, you might be a relic. If you’d rather be lost in the woods than found downtown… If you are thankful for what you DO have… If you know what “seed time and harvest” means… If you are working for something beyond payday… If you discovered that life begins when you stop living it in your own strength, you are a wise old relic – regardless of your age. (Luke 18: 18-30)
Wilson Love is Owner/Operator of The Practical Outdoorsman, a retail and consignment store.