Blame what you will. The world moves fast, and there are many other pastimes, hobbies and activities to occupy a Saturday morning. Boiled to their essence, though, few of those other recreational options offer so much for so little. Fishing is at once physically challenging and mentally therapeutic. It brings people together, brings families together.
Fishing flushes the mind and purges the soul of unhealthy clutter.
Now, for the other side of the coin. Enter the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which now wants the Boy Scouts of America to ditch its fishing-related merit badges. PETA's plea even tries to link recreational fishing with the sort of animal cruelty associated with FBI and American Psychiatric Association profiles of adult violent offenders. Somehow, I don't make the connection between a parent and child soaking nightcrawlers on a lake shore and armed robbery. Once more, I ask PETA to show me where it has invested so much as a dime in any program that directly benefited wildlife.