Anger Management Vaquero Style

Just the other day I had arrived back to my college home, the Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, in a great mood.  I had been at a district selection day interviewing some outstanding members and had just sat down in front of my desk to look at my list of to do’s.  This list made the Iliad look short, and put made my disposition switch from happy and jovial to a mood that resembled Britney Spears after she was given a sparkly mauve sports car, rather than the sparkly pink one she wanted.  Is now a good time to mention I have a bit of a temper I inherited from my father?  Just as I was about to go all CAPS LOCK on my desk, and anything within reach, I found a picture of my little brother and remembered a time when this attitude could very well have put me in the E.R

          I had a similar mood switch one day when we were fertility testing bulls back home.  I had plans that evening, but even before we were done with the bulls my father kindly kept adding things on to my to do list for the day, causing that good ol’ Smith temper to begin to kick in.  About the time my blood was at approximately 212 degrees, a bull balked momentarily in the alley.  In my state I reacted by giving him a hard (we are talking UFC fighter hard here) slap to the rump.  Apparently he was in an equally bad mood and responded by kicking back at me and catching me right below the rib cage.  This kick lifted me off the ground spun me around and landed me on my stomach.  Now, I can quote the entire movie 8 seconds when it is muted so the reality of a rib through a lung or heart is something I know well.  As soon as I felt myself rocket skyward I thought to myself “I’m dead, I’m gonna hit and not get up!”  Miraculously I came out of it with nothing more than some severe bruising to my stomach and area where my Abs are supposed to be and was able to keep on working.  By letting my attitude control my actions I made what could have been a fatal decision.

          I’m not saying that I always control my attitude, nobody truly can we are all human and we all make mistakes.  However that doesn’t mean we can’t try and keep calm and react in a more civilized manner.  So the next time you find yourself about to go off like a bad baking soda experiment in science class, think of the possible outcomes, grab a hold of your attitude and bear down and ride it rather than letting it stomp you into the ground, remember not to slap that “bull” that is your emotions on the rump.

         

         

         

         

         

         

Small Town USA

         Returning home after completing my first semester of college was not only a great relief and an opportunity to play cowboy for a couple weeks, but also an opportunity to pick up some very inspirational material from one of those amazing individuals who live in the “small town usa’s” we all know so well.

          It was the day after one of the first good snows of the year, which meant I got to spend my day happily bouncing around in my work truck, drinking coffee, and showing up Blake Shelton and Brantley Gilbert during some intense in-truck karaoke.  I was almost done moving a set of cane bales (still caffeinated to the max and having a grand time) when I noticed a truck at the bottom of a steep hill, off of the highway.  Now at first glance nothing really seemed amiss about this scene until I saw the skid marks that left the highway and covered the length of the hill.  I also looked more closely as the truck was sitting, and thought to myself, “ hmm I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be a fence there…and over there”  So after I unloaded my bale I went into ranch hand EMT mode and scaled (aka slid uncoordinatedly) down the hill to make sure everyone was alright.  An older gentleman and his daughter greeted me and informed that they were both ok, and that he was sorry for going through not one but two, count em two! Of my fences. 

          After I was informed that he had help coming I went about hauling my last couple bales and rounding up fence supplies.  When I got to the now truck free crash site this same older gentleman came down the hill from his now somehow miraculously drivable truck.  Without saying a thing he whipped out a pair of fencing pliers identical to mine and began helping me fix the gaping holes in my fences.  He stayed to help until the fence was tight enough to play banjo chords on, all while carrying on a quality casual conversation.  He stayed to help even though I had told him he didn’t need to, and even though it was extra time out of his day.

          This man truly embodied what it meant to be a quality, hard working, and honest person.  He is one of those men most people would scoff at, proudly sporting oily work clothes, and beat up down at the heels work boots…and driving his big (and might I add in my eyes absolutely beautiful) diesel truck.  That is people would raise their noses around him, until they saw how solid his core values were.  Values like FAMILY, INTEGRITY, FORTITUDE, OPTOMISM, A HARD WORK ETHIC…and of course an immeasurable amount of MENTAL TOUGHNESS.  I mean the guy works long hard hours every day and stayed to help me fix fence with no gloves in frigid weather! pretty darn tough in my book. 

          So the next time you are faced with a challenge, be it a mental obstacle, a physically grueling task, or a situation where you should do the right thing: think of what that outstanding man I met that day in the snow would do, think of what those solid core feelings are urging you to do.