By Jerry Nine
Here are things you are apt to hear your grandkids say.
“Well, Grandma, when you were younger why didn’t you just ask Siri if you didn’t know the answer?”
Or “Grandpa, what was so hard about hauling hay when you were younger? You’re always acting like that was a sweaty job. All you had to do was back the pickup up to the bale and then push that button to raise it up.”
And “Grandpa, when you talk about scooping wheat all day why didn’t you just use the auger?”
And “Grandpa, you talk about a band when working cattle, but I never heard any music out by the corral.”
And “You are always telling us to pinch pennies. I don’t understand that because they are solid.”
And “Grandpa, you said you use to shock feed. I don’t understand how that hay would move.”
And “Grandma, when you said you got to pick out the chicken feed sack that had the prettiest print on it. Why didn’t you just go to Wal-Mart and buy one?”
And “Grandpa, you used to say you would bump a cow to tell if she was pregnant. I would have just taken her to the vet.”
Here are some suggestions that all of us should try to do every day. Compliment three people every day. Watch a sunrise at least once a month. Be the first to say hello. Live beneath your means. Treat everyone like you like to be treated. Never give up on anybody. Don’t try to keep up with your neighbors. Never deprive someone of hope—it may be all they have.
Pray not for things but for wisdom and courage. Be tough minded but tender hearted. Be kinder than necessary. Don’t forget a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Keep your promises. Be cheerful even when you don’t feel like it.
Remember that overnight success takes 30 years. Leave everything better than you found it. Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to. When you arrive at your job in the morning let the first thing you say brighten everyone’s day.
Don’t rain on other people’s parade. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the view of High Plains Journal. Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
