A Hunting Metaphor to the Economy

Two headlines:
"Trump Claims Credit for what is Still Obama's Economy"
and
"Barack Obama Makes a Fool of Himself After Taking Credit for Trump's Strong Economy"

2017 divided so. many. of. us. and ignited voices on both ends of a human morals spectrum. In hindsight 2017 for me was mostly spent listening to the bad. Pressing on in 2018, I have already cried bundles of times at the inspiring, positive, open-minded and straight up strong individuals who keep their voices in the mixture.

Science and research tells us that we are mostly made up of our genetics with uncontrollable quirks and tendencies. But over the past couple of years I have dabbled in books and articles relating to neuroscience and how the plasticity of our brains allows alterations through our daily interactions and activities. If I can understand how our brains are transformed by each person's collective minutes on this Earth exposed to immeasurable environmental experiences, then perhaps I can be more sympathetic to those who disagree with my personal views.

My personal view: Coping with Donald Trump as president is incredibly difficult.

Politics and business aside, I never thought he would be elected due to the fact that he is not a decent human being from anyone else's shoes I could wear. His lies from my world perspective are so transparent and I was left baffled at the multitudes who believed him fit enough to lead millions of people and speak on behalf of the United States of America.

At a young age I adopted the ideology to never trust a person who is so eager to tell you his/her triumphs and successes. When I ignored this ideology a couple of years ago is when I had one of the worst dating experiences of my life. Lesson learned and growth initiated.

New growth peppered forests of eastern N.C. after the 2011 wildfires.

Half of my daily commute is through a national forest. This week the concept of manifestations in the natural world as delayed appearances from years worth of environmental factors has continually popped up. On one of these days I considered the numerous deer, turkey, bear and coyote I have crossed paths or witnessed signs of. Naturally, I compared wildlife fluctuations to our economy. An aficionado for metaphors, I wondered if I could relate the two and came up with the following:

*I feel like I need to note here that this story seems like I have an abysmal view of hunters and that simply isn't true. Teddy Roosevelt and many of our other conscientious conservationists were hunters.*
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A man, let's call him Bobby Dean, inherited a large tract of land. This land was ignored by its previous owners and overflowed with ecological no-no's. Invasive species, eroding streambanks, trashpiles, random household appliances rolled down the banks. The whole works. Soon after taking over the land, Bobby Dean opened up his land to hunters even though he knew that the browse was not suitable to attract healthy wild game populations.

In that first year Bobby Dean worked with local organizations to clear out invasives and selectively cut out tree species to open up the forest floor. He encouraged mast-producing species to grow as well as tasty, herbaceous groundcover. Bobby Dean knew that over time the wildlife would flourish and many prized game would enter his tract of land.

Many of the hunters didn't understand the improvements Bobby Dean implemented did not concede to the desires of instant gratification. Nature takes time to do her work. The hunters only knew that for now the deer were few and small.

Fast forward a handful of years, Bobby Dean sold the land to a rich man. Let's call him Stan.

Stan continued to permit hunters onto this tract of land but ceased to manage the acreage in the way Bobby Dean worked to. Wild game had increased in numbers and quality over the years of Bobby Dean's stewardship but Stan did not care about the steps he took to achieve this outcome.

In Stan's first couple years of owning the tract of land, hunting proved to be at its prime. Hunters beamed at the experiences they had on this particular property. Stan took great pride in the momentary benefits and attributed it to his own devices.

Without proper and continual management, invasives eventually encroached the forest once again and the understory filled with unfavorable browse. By the time anyone had noticed the wildlife were no longer passing through this tract of land, Stand had passed on the land to another (ugh, probably to a developer or oil company) and moved on.
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It's not a perfect metaphor by any means but it puts the economy, a sector of modern living that is disorienting to me, in a more attainable concept that I can digest.