Sat in this week as a teacher's aide to Steve in our
Riflescopes 101 class for our employees, here at Opticsplanet and I just have to say, first of all, that Steve did a superb job and that, second of all, I was reminded yet, again, of how different it is to teach people about
binoculars, as I had done several weeks, ago, compared to teaching the same people about
rifle scopes. For many of our employees, it was the first time they had actually been in the same room with a gun and their reactions varied, widely. It reminded me that I grew up in such a different world, where guns and hunting were more than just hobbies, but a way of life and that everyone hunted, girls and boys, right alongside fathers, uncles and aunts. It also reminded me that the rural life I had so taken for granted as a youngster is disappearing one farm field and woodlot at a time, along with the birds and animals I so love. No, I don't hunt anymore, though I understand and appreciate those that still can and still do and I thank them for the habitat they have saved. I fear that when hunting and hunters are gone, so too will the fields and birds I so love, all crushed under ever more parking lots, subdivisons and congested roadways. I fear that when there is no place left to hunt, there will be no place left for me to use my
birding binoculars or dark, unpolluted skies to use my
telescope. That will be no world for someone like me.