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.
