Growing up on a small farm had a lot of advantages.  Living with my grandparents through my high-school years, in Snowflake, AZ, also had its privileges.  In addition to learning the fastest way to clean stalls filled with horse manure (my grandpa always told me that you can learn a lot from the end of a shovel) and how to mend a broken fence I was privileged to learn from a generation removed and learn, to some degree, how things were done in the “old days”.

My grandpa, Glen Stratton, had a way of teaching things using analogies and with sayings of his that we frequently called “Glenisms”.  One of his most popular sayings was, “I wouldn’t throw stones at your outhouse like that”.  I’ll let you figure out that one.  I’m not sure if he purposely meant for his instructions in one area of life to be applied to several areas of life, but they did leave lasting impressions.

My grandpa taught me to have a love of horses and also taught me how to team rope.  In learning how to ride horses and to rope there was always a guarantee that at some point you were going to be bucked off.  With that guarantee there was also a guarantee that no matter how small you were or how big the horse was you ALWAYS got back on.  This was not negotiable.  In fact, if you didn’t get back on it taught the horse a bad lesson; that it could buck someone off and be okay with it.  Try being the next rider on the horse after it’s formed this bad habit.

Isn’t this the same with life?  At some point we are guaranteed to be bucked off and if we don’t get back on what have we taught ourselves or learned from the lesson?  In fact isn’t getting back on an empowering action that strengthens us while if we were to stay off it would be a disempowering action that would weaken us.

There is a favorite poem that I have framed, hanging in my bedroom, entitled “Don’t Quit”.

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, when the road your trudging seam all uphill.

When the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile but you have to sigh.

When care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must but do not quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, every one of us sometimes learns.

And many a failure turns about, when you might have won had you stuck it out.

Don’t give up, though the pace seams slow; you may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out; the silver tint of the clouds of doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are; it may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when your heart is hit; it’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

I would like to hear about your greatest triumph and the feeling that came from conquering.

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