Are you a careless man?

Are you a careless man? Ha Ha… I know the joke, “I could care less man.”

But that is one of those immature responses we may have had in our recent past. So… are you? Are you a careless man?

Children can afford to be careless, that’s how they learn. A man on the other hand can not afford to be careless.

Reason #1 being… if you are careless… other men will not want to be around you.

Lets get a definition first.

Online Dictionary – adjective: careless

1. not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoiding harm or errors. “she had been careless and had left the window unlocked” “he caused the fire being careless leaving the stove burner on” “he was being careless with his bow and sent an arrow into the wall, instead of the target”

As an Emerging Man you are gaining skills and confidence in order to join a coalition of lions, other men, each having some of the same skills but specific skills also that enhance the group. As an Emerging Man we are striving for mastery over ourselves and those skills we wish to have.

And so it behooves us to eliminate the immature attitude of being careless.

As we progress in our self improvement and specific skill sets… like archery, we need to give ‘sufficient attention and thought’ to how we go about mastering that skill.

Case in point: in 2019 I picked up archery again, after a many years layoff.

I brought my equipment to a local archery shop and had them tune it up and give me some re-training. I spent the spring and summer shooting weekly to become re-acquainted with the form needed for accurate shooting. I went with some guys from work and spent time on a 3-D range.

At the opening of the season I was ready. I visited my son in Northern Wisconsin and we had a good weekend together. Except for the part where I missed my deer. So… “back to the lab again”

I went home with new information gained the old fashion way – personal experience- and tweaked the bow set up one more time and practiced, and practiced, and practiced until I was confident in my set up, skill set, and self.

It was the first week of November. Same woods. Same tree. Different target. We needed to harvest some does to help the herd dynamics. I had a small doe working my stand and after much consideration decided to try and harvest her.

At full draw the arrow release fired off. I felt sick in an instant. Because I did not do that on purpose. I truly don’t know how it happened. The deer hit the ground instantly. I felt sick. I felt careless. The deer was down and not suffering. I chose to take the opportunity to test my equipment. I placed a second arrow directly into the heart… on purpose, from twenty yards away. The gear and my form were on. I do not know what caused the misfire. But I do know WHO caused the misfire. Me.

I do know I felt very careless. If I would not have hit the deer I was aiming at there certainly were other worse case scenarios… like hitting the other deer that was with her, or loosing an arrow out into the wild blue yonder. There is a lot that can go wrong on an archery hunt. A man has to know that. A man has to plan… as well as he can… to minimize those possible eventualities.

A child is not given the same responsibilities as a man is for good reason… he cannot give ‘sufficient attention and thought’ to the most probable outcomes because he has not had the schooling of enough personal experience of how things can go wrong. He needs to be taught.

He’s just having fun shooting a bow and arrow at a target… hopefully with his dad watching… so he doesn’t do anything careless.

As an Emerging Man… learn to depend on The 3 E’s, Encourage, Equip, and Engage… with purpose… on purpose… and with ‘sufficient attention and thought’