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Rhody Fling as our Nation Begins to Heal
September 27, 2001:

I thought, even though we are asked to move on and never forget, that I would leave up this photo - it truly shows the American spirit at it's finest. The men putting up this flag defended our freedoms side by side with their American brothers - many of whom never came home. To quote one of my favorite patriotic songs - "All gave some and some gave all." Let's never forget either. Please remember the hundreds of brave men and women who gave their lives saving the lives of others. God bless their souls, their families, and their comrades - let them know Your comfort Lord, let them know their loved ones did not die in vain, but in selfless acts of compassion and bravery.

Even though the smoke has settled and the fires are mostly out, there is a tremendous need for our collective help - Help Start the Healing

Well folks, it's now been 16 days since the faceless cowards attacked our freedom, leveled the World Trade Center, and damaged the Pentagon. The response to these attacks has been a bonding together and willingness to sacrifice and share our time, our money, our blood, our sweat, and our tears as this great nation begins to heal. I don't think the healing will be complete until these generations leave this world to those next in line, but we must continue on with our lives, otherwise the terrorist got what they wanted. They can kill us, they can destroy our monuments, our offices, but they cannot stop us from being American and they cannot stop America from being the greatest nation on Earth. We now wait patiently for our leaders to respond on our behalf...to respond on the behalf of those senselessly murdered - it can't come soon enough. Now is the time to pray for our leaders, they have to make decisions now that will affect every aspect of our futures...of our children's futures...even our children's children. As a nation we move on and as a nation we will never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.

It's almost hard to talk about the Rhody Fling after the somber thoughts the above paragraphs had welling up in my head, but since this is the last opportunity for me to do so prior to actually leaving for the Fling, I must. It will be a big part in the healing for a lot of people coming...many have been holding on to it as a mental break that they desperately need. To some it's the first opportunity they've had to fish with some friends...to others it might be the last time this season they get to fish with their friends. As always, I am eager with anticipation to meet many new people, to share some laughs with many of our northern brothers that seem like old friends, and, of course, to spend a couple nights fishing some new waters. The details for the Rhody Fling are available by clicking here. The outlook for the fishing is very, very good. The weather, while initial forecasts had some nasty, windy, and rainy stuff in store for us...the weather man has since had mercy on us all and changed his forecast to a much more friendly forecast. It looks to be a very interesting Fling indeed! Don from Weekapaug Bait & Tackle emailed me earlier today - Don, if you read this, I tried 3 times to reply to your email but it says your email address doesn't exist - so, yes, you can post your generous offer on the board...but I'm also going to mention it here :-) Anyway, Don says that there is a tournament the weekend of the Fling and his shop will be open all night. Also, he said there will be food and drink for the StripersOnline folks - and if ya mention you're with the SOL Fling, he'll cut ya a 10% discount - I thought that was exceedingly nice of the guy :-) Thanks Don, I look forward to a late night cup of coffee with ya - don't let the red, bleary eyes scare ya, I just fish till I can't stand up anymore :-) Oh yea, I heard the three little plug ho's were gonna be at the Fling (that's Tattoo, Slipknot, and Bassmaster) so ya might wanna keep a real close eye on yer plug bag!?!!? ;-) See ya at the Fling!