Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Thanks, Mom!


Mom was a strong woman who would
stand up to any man!
My mother was a tough woman, despite her stunning looks, hourglass figure, fiery red hair and mind- piercing green eyes. As a teenager, she raised a black bear from a cub and opened a turquoise jewelry shop in Cherokee, NC. An entrepreneur at heart, she established and ran Smith's Trading Post in Tampa for nearly forty years with both a steel fist and kid-like energy. Mom was a strong woman who would stand up to any man, but back in the day she paid a high price for this strength.

Once I watched her pick up a rifle to shoot a man. He was threatening to cut down a mammoth cypress tree growing between our lakefront properties (That's a completely different story.) There's no doubt she would have killed him if she thought she needed to save the tree. Not surprisingly, it was Mom who taught me the importance facets of nature and conservation.

The same year, 1963, after she successfully defended the cypress tree, I found an injured red-winged blackbird in the woods. We kept the bird in a cage hanging in an oak tree, nursing it back to good health. I'd talk to the bird, and I swear it would listen to me. One morning, it was time to release our feathered patient, but, unfortunately, instead of my little friend in the cage, there was a four-foot long red cornsnake with a large lump in its belly. It was a bummer; I wanted that snake dead, until Mom explained to me the way nature worked.

"There's a balance in nature, son that we humans don't always understand," she said.

I watched the snakes fixed eyes and slithering tongue closely as Mom opened the cage, releasing it up into the oak. Over time, my fear of snakes evaporated completely.

I've always had an innate ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and as a very young child they tell me I had no fear of anyone. However, what I fear now more than ever before, are human beings. Indulging in books like Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction and the mind expanding Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity has led me to believe human choice are the biggest problem we face today. If we humans (especially governments) don't start making wiser choices about how we live on this planet soon, I assure you the vast majority of us will not be having such a good time in the very near future.

We must stop abusing nature to further our human pleasures and material gains. We now are facing a time where we must make decisions based on how our actions affect the sustainability of biodiversity. I understand this will take time, and we don't have much time, but now is the time for a change!

Another time has come; Mom died on Christmas Eve 2012. I may have lost one of my greatest mentors, but the foundation in nature and conservation she gave me has continued to mentor me in many rich ways over the past years.

Thanks, Mom, I love you.




Rodney Smith, CEO of Little Pond Publishing;and author of Catching Made Easy and Enjoying Life on the Indian River Lagoon is a visionary and community leader who like to share his tales. Download these books digitally on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble by searching "Rodney Smith+Name of book"; or order the soft-covered books online!  See all of Rodney's upcoming events and exploits at www.rodneysmithmedia.com.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Don't Leave Your Legacy on the Back Shelf of Your Mind

Whether you realize it or not, we're all working on our own individual legacy. Yes, our paths may vary greatly, but the way we establish and reach our personal legacy is the same for each and every one of us. First, there's a thought, then the action on that thought, which becomes a habit with routine, and in turn, it becomes one's legacy. It is as simple as that; you're building your legacy through your life's action. With this said, you might wonder why we do the things we do? Is it simply because we are reacting to a stimulus? Usually it is.

When I decided to move ahead with the idea to paddle and camp the entire
The Paddling Team of
Rodney Smith and John Kumiski
length of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) in an effort to raise awareness and educational funds with my great friend, Captain John Kumiski, it was in response to a stimulus. The stimulus was the declining health of the Indian River Lagoon. We thought about and considered this idea for almost  ten years before moving forward with it, but we didn't leave it on the on the back shelf of our minds forever.


As a writer, my mission is to provide my readers with entertaining, educational and enlightening ideas, focusing on using, and not abusing, our great outdoors. In the end, I'm comfortable with this legacy. I've also come to realize that we think we do our best, and our best varies from day-to-day and moment-to-moment. We do our best by keeping this in mind; the trick is to be honest with yourself.

Get more productive at polishing  your legacies by staying focus on beginning with the end in mind. It may take a little time to establish this direction, but it will be a worthwhile use of your time and effort. Do yourself a big favor, and don't fall into the human trap of leaving the important things on the back shelf of your mind.

Learn more about our IRL Paddle Adventure.


Rodney Smith, CEO of Little Pond Publishing;and author of Catching Made Easy and Enjoying Life on the Indian River Lagoon is a visionary and community leader who like to share his tales. Download these books digitally on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble by searching "Rodney Smith+Name of book"; or order the soft-covered books online!  See all of Rodney's upcoming events and exploits at www.rodneysmithmedia.com.