FROM MY FRONT PORCH Anticipating the challenges of life, and overcoming

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Anticipating the challenges of life, and overcoming

SAM HOUSTON

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Like a lot of things in life, anticipation can be categorized in two distinctly different ways. There is a “good” anticipation like the waiting to wake on Christmas morning and open presents. Or perhaps the anticipation of that first kiss from a special someone, or the arrival of a newborn after nine long months of waiting.

The “bad” sort of anticipation is the anxiety and fear created when a dreaded task lies before us. I imagine each one of us has shared those sorts of feelings. I am referring to the angst a person feels when they know they must spend the entire upcoming Saturday cleaning out the garage. The job has been put off, delayed, and ignored for as long as humanly possible, and the day of reckoning has finally arrived. The job must be done, you have promised you would do it; you will feel better when it is over and behind you, but dread sets in. You hate to clean the garage, you would rather be fishing, or golfing, heck even going shopping with your wife would be preferable, but the job must be done. There will be no reprieve from the governor. It is time to shut up, roll up your sleeves and just do it.

This phenomenon occurs in the workplace as well as at home. When I ranched, one of the most dreaded days was when a semi-truck loaded with small bales of alfalfa would be delivered.  Seventy-pound bales would need to be unloaded from the truck AND stacked in the barn. As I recall, each truck load contained exactly 708 bales. The bales were heavy, and the job was exhausting because of all the lifting involved. Frequently this took place during the summertime, and it was hot outside, which made the job even more difficult. 

Several college interns worked on the ranch and once they learned a truck would be delivering a load of hay sometime during the week, the moaning would invariably begin. I would hear the ranch hands talk about how much time it took to unload, how difficult it was, and asking out loud why there wasn’t a machine that could unload the truck instead of back-breaking human labor. Seems like everyone would want to volunteer to deliver a mare to another ranch, or some other tasks that might have them away from home when the hay truck arrived. Anything to get out of unloading hay. The anticipation of the job was causing more issues than the actual performance of the task.

Upon the arrival of the next hay truck, I gathered up the hands and told them while we needed to unload the hay, we were going to handle the task a little differently. I advised we were going to divide into two teams. We would keep a tally of which team got the most bales unloaded. Whichever team unloaded the highest number of bales, would be excused from feeding on Sunday, while the losing team would have to do all the feeding that day.

Being excused from Sunday feeding was a big deal because it would mean a complete day with no chores. It also meant those young people who wanted to go out on Saturday night and dance and have a good time could sleep in without having their slumbers interrupted by having to take care of the livestock early Sunday morning.

I divided up the hands and included myself on one of the teams. When the competition started, it was wild and furious. You could not imagine the speed with which bales went flying off the truck! People encouraged their teammates and “trash-talked” the opposing team. The hands were laughing, cutting up, and working like madmen in order to be victorious. No one stopped, took a break or looked up, they simply dug in and got it done.

We got that truck unloaded in about half the time it usually took. The winning team was celebratory, and the losers promised to win when the next truck load came in. The competition was the talk of the ranch for the next few days with a generous dose of good-natured kidding being expended to all involved, including at myself.

I spent Sunday morning feeding. My team had won, but I wanted to be with the team that lost and give them a little help. We got the chores done and told each other the result of the competition would be different, next time. We also talked about how many times in life there would be obstacles before us and difficult tasks to undertake. How it made sense to go into a task, even the ones we disliked, with a positive attitude and a smile. After all, those tasks still needed to be done. By complaining and dreading them, it just made it worse.

A new tradition was born, and the hay races became a part of the ranch tradition.

There may not always be an easy way, but there is the cowboy way. 

Thought for the day; Be the reason someone believes in good people.

Until next time.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260