Watch out for the hook!

Most of us have gone fishing at some time in our life. Perhaps your father, grandfather or uncle took you as a little boy or little girl down to the pond to let you try to catch your first fish.

When I was just a child, my grandfather walked with me down a long dirt road to a nearby lake. Before we left, he said we needed to have our poles, our hooks and some bait. I was holding the long cane pole and I was wary of the hook because I did not want to get it in my finger! In my grandfather’s hand was a box of red wigglers. (I can see some of you smiling now!) They were the fattest, juiciest worms you have ever seen in your life! He told me it was very important to have good bait if we wanted to catch any fish.

When we got to the lake, Grandpapa showed me how to put the hook through the worm. He cautioned me to do it very carefully so that the fish would not see the hook. “You only want the fish to see the bait,” he said. He helped me put my worm on my hook several times until I got the hang of it. After a while we started catching fish and it was so much fun! That is a fond memory that will last throughout my lifetime.

As I have gotten older, I have often been reminded of what my grandfather said to me that day, “You don’t want the fish to see the hook. You only want the fish to see the bait.” When it comes to fishing that is a very important concept. It is true indeed that you do not want the fish to know that you are trying to catch him. Your fishing trip will be wasted if you don’t catch some fish.

However, when it comes to dealing with other situations, each one of us should be careful, lest we see something that looks like good bait, but we end up getting hooked. How many of us have bought a car, or gotten in on a “once-in-a-lifetime deal”, or were offered some incredible opportunity, only to later find out that, while the bait looked great, there was a “hook” in the middle of it?

Years ago I hired someone to build a small addition onto our home. He bragged that he was the best builder in town and gave me what looked like some very good bait. He told me all he needed was $300 to start the job. I should have checked a few of his references first because he did not show up to do the work even though he pocketed my money. Later I discovered that he had taken my $300 to pay off his prior job. In fact, he was out trying to find another job so that he would have the money to buy the supplies he needed to get my project started. In other words, he was always one job behind. He had great bait and I got caught on his hook.

Let’s all be a little more careful when it comes to dealing with situations like that. I am not saying that we should go through life not trusting other people, but I am saying that it is important to realize that the bait will always look better than the hook. After all, the hook is the one thing some people do not want you to see.

I have had so many good deals thrown my way. Perhaps you have too. Hopefully we are now a little wiser when it comes to the bait and hook scenario. Just be aware that not everything that shines is gold and not everything that looks good really is good. If you are at least alerted to the possibility that a hook may be involved somewhere in the situation, it will cause you to be much wiser in your dealings with everyone and maybe keep you from getting “caught”. Remember, just because there is bait on the hook does not mean that you have to bite it! Learn to swim away!

This information is provided in congruence with Personality Insights USA.