So Give Me The Free Stuff!

Ok well let me start this by saying I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. I also pray you thanked the men and women who defend or have defended our country. With that said I wanna give a big THANK YOU to our service men and women who defend our country and allow me the freedoms I so enjoy.

This isn't going to be one of my normal blogs. This may actually offend some people and they will know who they are when they read this. So with that being said "Give me the free stuff."

While I was able to kick back and relax a bit this weekend I started to reflect on many different things. One of them is how many times people ask for "free" stuff. It never ceases to amaze me that people I know, hardly know, do not know and just met always love to ask for the "free stuff." I always laugh on the inside because it kills me that people think products are actually "free".

Let me give a couple recent examples. The first one is when I was asked on a website if I could "hook up" someone with a "free" site for this guys bow. Really? I don't even know you or ever met you. Or how about when you get asked about being on a pro staff. When you ask why someone wants to get on or be a part of a pro staff nine out of ten times you get "man I wanna get all that free stuff." I had a really good friend ask me for some "free" stuff and I finally asked if he could give me the equivalent in the form of cash from his paycheck. He looked at me and had a blank stare. Reality set in that because it is free to him doesn't mean that I didn't work for it.

Let me just say that there are many perks to being on a pro staff. I will not deny that at all. Yes the perks are nice. I will not deny that as well. The reality is by the time you figure out what you get and what you spend to do the work to fulfill your contract the "free" stuff isn't really so free. There is a lot of work that goes into it.

I was asked on a trip this past winter what I get out of being on a pro staff. Wow, I couldn't believe it. Finally an open invitation to say exactly how I feel. So this is what I get and how I feel about being on a pro staff.

First and foremost it is because I have been given an opportunity to be a part of an organization that I believe in. Then it is because I believe in the product they produce. I like to interact with people and hear their stories when doing an event. This is the best part because you get to listen and see the faces of the individuals as they tell you about a hunt, an animal they took, a trip they had or a fish they caught. Just being able to help get others involved in the outdoors that may have never experienced it in their life. That is what it means to me.

So as far as the "free" stuff, well I don't think when you add up the time on the road, gas, benefit tickets, donations at benefits, days spent working events etc. it really is "free". At the end of the year if I were to sit down and figure out expenses versus the "free" stuff, I bet it would actually cost me money. The reality is, that is perfectly fine with me because once you get someone involved in the outdoors or see a child's face light up when he or she catches the first fish or takes their first animal that is what makes it all worth it. That right there is what its all about my friends.

We should all know by now that nothing in life is free.

Nuff Said.