My Fishing Activity

I have never been a huge fisherman.  Ever since I was a kid no one in my family thoroughly enjoyed it, however, we often seemed to go up to a small lake behind my house and fish.  This was especially true when I was younger.  I’m not sure what it was that kept us going.  The idea of fishing, to me, is very boring and not something that I enjoy doing, however, each time that my siblings and I would go up and fish we would always have a good time.  Just as the movie “A River Runs Through It” implies the fishing was more than just fishing.  Each time we would go up to the lake we would bond and spend time together.  We would first have to hike through our field and climb through some shrubs until we finally made it to the lake.  The lake was barley a lake as well.  It was a very small body of water that you could probably throw a rock to the other side if you tried hard enough.  Anytime we actually caught a fish it was no bigger than the palm of our hand and we immediately let it go because none of us even liked the taste of fish.  These moments, however, spending Saturday afternoon or a Friday night on our little lake will always remain cherished memories to me.  

This idea of the people your with greatly outweighing the actual activity is prevalent in the movie “A River Runs Through It.”  Even though the two boys thoroughly enjoy fishing they are getting the most gratification out of spending time together.  This bonding time allows them to forget all about their troubles and whats going on in each others lives and enjoy each others company.  This is how it felt when my family and I would fish.  It would just be a relaxing hour or two where everyone relaxed and forgot about real life.  In the movie the boys use fishing as an escape and do it often.  One example of this is when Paul decides to go back into the casino house when Norman tries to get him to leave.  As Norman is pulling out of the parking lot Paul runs up to the car and asks if he’d like to go fishing the next day.  Norman was visibly upset with his brother prior to this request, however, once fishing is brought up it appears that his anger is at least lightened.  

Certain people have different activities that act as fishing did for Norman and Paul.  I think that it is crucial to find your “fishing” activity to allow yourself to relax and unwind in times of stress.  I have currently found a new thing that I enjoy doing: listening to music.  I find music therapeutic and often just listen to music for hours surfing the web trying to find new sounds that I’ve never heard of before.  I have gone to multiple music festivals and concerts over the past couple years and have enjoyed them thoroughly.  Like the river I think that music is able to bring people together and allow them to forget about their troubles and whats going on in “real” life.  Its amazing how thousands of strangers can come together and enjoy the music as one.