The Old Man and me

The Old Man second-guessed the gamble of sailing far out into the sea as he watched sharks dissect the biggest catch of his life — and first in 84-days — with carnivorous brutality.“I shouldn’t have gone out so far, fish. Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry fish.”The Old Man arrived home with nothing more than the carcass of the great fish, while the author Ernest Hemingway, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for torturing his main character in The Old Man and the Sea.The story impacted literary critics and the tale of man vs. fish vs. sharks is so epic it’s taught in school.I read it again recently because it starts out about fishing and goes somewhere else once the words stop. Actually, it’s me that goes elsewhere but it’s the book’s fault.Sometimes I feel like I’m on a boat being pulled out to sea on an epic adventure bearing a seemingly insurmountable burden on my own shoulders which I will overcome and return home triumphant. Other days I’m the helpless dude with a broken body trying to brain sharks as they devour my catch.When I was 10, a black bear started in on the salmon my brother and I had on shore. I want to say that I ran up and gave it a round-house kick to the throat, but I didn’t.I probably peed.See complete column athttp://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/92/article/28224/