Why?

Siblings… Little munchkins… Kids…  Children… What would we do without these little angels? One of my favorite stages of my siblings I have witnessed growing up is the “why?” stage. “Hey Amariah, we are going to clean up!” I would say and she would reply, “why?” In response, I would add, “Because it needs to be clean.” Amariah would quickly respond with the famous “why?” to every reason I gave her for the next five minutes. Finally I would give up and actually get to work.  Lately I have been asking a lot of those “why?” questions to myself and realized I needed to take a deeper look into “why?” I have three things in my life, family and friends, agriculture, and FFA.

Do we have family to play pranks on? Do we have friends just to take us to sonic? Even though I do enjoy picking on my little brother and going out to sonic with my friends, these are not the true reasons of why we have family and friends.  My little brother (well not so little anymore) has been my best friend since he was born.  Indie has always been there to “protect me” from guys, stay up late and watch a movie, and even to talk about issues in life that you go through while growing up.  In our lives we all have special people who are near and dear to our hearts.  We have family and friends to help us through the hard times and to guide us in the right direction. Who is that family member or friend that means the world to you?

Do we have agriculture so we can “play in the dirt”?  Now as children we might think that “playing in the dirt” was the best way to make our mom mad, but as we grow into young adults we start to realize what that dirt has provided for us.  My family has owned the land we live and ranch on since the 1870s and I know that the dirt my great great grandpa lived and ranched on is the same dirt my family continues to work on today.  Agriculture to me shows true beauty of work ethic in life.  Cattle are near and dear to my heart. Getting up at 3a.m. to check on a heifer that’s having difficulties calving is one thing I love (might I add that I am NOT a morning person).  Once I get to see that baby calf walking on the ground it is definitely worth the early morning wake-up call.  The growth and development of agriculture has changed in many ways such as developing and using hybrids and artificially inseminating livestock.   Why is agriculture important to you?

Do we have FFA so we can get out of school? Even though getting out of school may be nice, FFA provides opportunities to have good fellowship with others.  My junior year of high school my family hosted our chapter’s “Fishin’ n Fun Night”.  Around 30 members made their way out to our residence to go and fish while also roasting some hot dogs and eating smores. Little did we know that this fun evening was going to turn into an evening with some teamwork involved. While one of the members was casting he accidentally snagged the lanyard in his pocket and casted his keys right into the pond.  Lucky enough the place where the keys had landed was only about 4 ½ feet deep.  Two of the guys got in the pond and worked together as a team to find the keys.  His keys were successfully found after a whopping fifteen minutes of searching.  Little did we know how a fun fishing night could turn into a teamwork event trying to find keys.  Whether it’s serious workouts for the upcoming CDE, late nights put into your SAE, or even a night full of fishing and fun, FFA provided those memories made with friends that I will continue to cherish.  Why are you involved in FFA?

This next week I challenge you to ask yourself those “why?” questions.  

Why family and friends? 

Why agriculture? 

Why FFA?

Living in the Moment

Fall is one of my favorite seasons.  The leaves are changing colors and football season is in full swing.  Recently I decided to go to one of my brother’s football games and I asked my roommate, who is from Wisconsin, if she would like to go with me.  She very excitedly accepted the invitation and into the car we went.  We hopped onto highway 177 and then onto I-70 east headed toward Topeka. Pretty soon my roommate starts to look around and I notice how in shock she was.  She looks at me and says, “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s so beautiful.”

Driving along the road I was so worried about making it in time for my brother’s kickoff that I totally took for granted how beautiful the land is around me.  Sometimes we get so busy and caught up in life.  We don’t truly take the time we should to relax and enjoy what we’ve been given.

A week after going to the football game I had the opportunity to go to a few chapter visits with our National FFA Officer, Kalie Hall.  Kalie and I took off from Manhattan and headed on the highway towards Topeka just like I had the past week. An early 7:00a.m. trip on the highway was the perfect time to drive through the Flint Hills and watch the beautiful sunrise. Kalie had not yet experienced the Flint Hills in Kansas and it made me think of my trip the week before and how the world was just a blur around me. This time I truly took in the wondrous land around me and I was thankful for what had been given to me at this simple moment of life.

“The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” –Eminem.  This quote really speaks to me and makes me realize how I should not let one thing go for granted in my life.  We have only been given a short time to live here on Earth.  My life could be taken away at any certain moment and I know I don’t want to leave this Earth without soaking in its’ beauty.

How can we take one day at a time? How can we live in the moment throughout every day, throughout this year, and throughout our lives? I challenge all of us to LIVE IN THE MOMENT. 

The Beauty of Hard Work Paid Off

This past week held one of Jackson County's biggest attractions.  Yes, the Jackson County Fair was in full swing from Monday to Thursday packed with little youngsters ready to display their projects. Fair week is hands down the busiest week of summer. 

Elizabeth would you help me? Elizabeth what do I do? Elizabeth can you do this?  Being one of the oldest 4-Hers, I was asked to help by some of the younger members.  My nine year old sister was one of the 4-Hers who asked for my help showing her steer.  I showed her how to properly set up her steer and we discussed what the judge would be looking for in showmanship. She ended up getting a blue in showmanship and she won her heat in the Middleweight Crossbred class.  

When it came time to sell Thursday night, I got a little emotional. Not only because of all the time and effort I put into my steer but also because the eleven years I had been in 4-H were coming to a close. I went into the selling ring with a smile on my face and walked out with tears in my eyes. I walked back to my sister and a family friend, who were getting ready to sell,  to be supportive and help them if they needed help.  While walking back I saw my little friend crying so I went up and gave her a big hug. She was just sad for the end. I trudged on to find my sister so I could walk up with her. My sister walked right into the ring with a huge smile on her face but walked out with tears in her eyes. When my sister got done selling she came right up to me and told me, "I was just like you." 

(This is a picture of my sister and her steer she named Between right before the sale.)


At the time it was just a simple piece of advice that was offered for the younger children, however looking back at those long hours put into 4-H projects I realized that the time had paid off to the fullest.  The minutes and hours spent helping each of the 4-Hers could possibly impact them as future agriculturalists.  Sometimes we don't truly think about our actions and how they can affect the future generations.  How can we strive to make the best better? How do we make our actions count for the future agriculturists? How do we make our hard work pay off?

Back Where I Come From

Yesterday a friend and I traveled to Saline in the early afternoon to help support our home town boys basketball team that had made it to the 4A state tournament for the first time in 16 years. This was something that my friend and I had never experienced because when we were in high school our team never made it past the first round of sub state. We thought this would be a once and a life time opportunity for us to see our boys play at this tournament, which intrigued us to make the journey to Salina that day.

After arriving in Salina at the Bicentennial Center that day it was obvious that we were not the only ones that saw the importance and value of this game. There were over two hundred students from back home in attendance as well as school faculty, parents of players, local business owners and even parents that did not have students playing. The turn out from our home town was mind blowing to think that this many people were out to support their town in such an extraordinary event.

I did not know our students let alone our town had that much pride in our school to come out with that kind of numbers to support the team. This reminded me how people remember where they came from. This is something we all must keep in mind as we move up in high school, go on to college, enter the industry, move on to another job or relocate. There were once people and organizations that made an impact that pushed us to where we are and what we have today. Remember to give back to these people or organizations as we progress in our lives.

The Boot

One day I found myself staring blankly at a pair of my Horse Power Anderson Beans. As I stared endlessly at them I slowly started to recognize all the imperfect details about them, all the scuffs and the little crack lines that where starting to form in the leather. At this moment I never thought of these imperfections as bad attributes to my boots. They reminded me of the scuffs and cracked leather on myself, but these are not imperfections. They are the marks left on my existence of the ones that have changed my life. 

As I thought of the people that have impacted me, I picked up the boot and looked every inch of it over. Once I had turned it over to reveal the soles of the boot, I was met with some dirt that was adhering to the crevasse where the sole and heel meet. This led me to think of the many dusty paths that these boots have crossed. If these pieces of dust were still holding on to my boot, is it possible that the same dusty path I walked on still held a boot print left by me? 

As we think of all of those who have left marks on us, try to imagine those that we have imprinted as well. The path that we take is determined all by ourselves, there are people that impact us and help direct our paths, but it all depends if we use what they gave us or not. The next time you put on your boots think about the path you are going to take that will possibly lead you to your next scuff or allow you to leave another imprint in the dirt.