When I was a young
cowboy, full of knowledge (at least I thought so) …ok…full of mischief and full
of myself; I worked on a large ranch between Milnesand and Crossroads, New
Mexico. Not much more than wide spots in the road - either of them. It was
desolate and it was cowboy country.
One project I worked
on that summer was building a new barbed wire fence to separate one big ol’
pasture in two. I did not like the work. Pounding steel posts into the ground
with a ten-pound driver in hundred-degree weather was not my idea of romance.
After all, I’d hired on to COWBOY! Although I did my job, I let it be known I
figured the work was beneath me. I performed without enthusiasm.
One day, the boss
came by and watched me for a while. He then got out of his pickup and grabbed a
post driver and went to work right there beside me. The first post, he drove in
much quicker than I. Believing he would run out of steam from showing off
pretty quick, I quietly smirked under my breath. Let’s see if he runs out of
energy in a bit, I thought. He didn’t.
For the next several
posts, he drove in about two to my one. I then thought, “I’ll show him!” I was
young and tough and in great shape and I went to pounding posts with a spirit
of competition and enthusiasm! There was no way I was going to let a guy who
spent more time driving around in a pickup than doing physical labor out-work
me…I’d show him.
We worked side by
side for the next hour or more without saying a word…just driving in post after
post in harmonious rhythm. Before long, I had a smile on my face and was
enjoying the unspoken competition going on. Eventually, the boss stopped and
grabbed a jug of cold water, offering me a drink. I took it. Water never tasted
so sweet as it did that hot summer day with sweat pouring down my neck and
muscles twitching from exertion. Without saying a word, he looked back along
the long line of posts we had just driven in and smiled a smile of great
satisfaction. I looked as well, out of curiosity over what he was smiling
about. Every post we had just driven in together was straight as a string and
equal in height. Perfect! The posts from my earlier work farther down the line
were not quite as…perfect. I grinned. I knew.
He was a very busy
feller and did not have time to spend out there on the flat pounding posts in
the ground. After all, that is why he hired guys like me; He had more important
things to do. So it was no surprise when he turned to his truck to leave.
Before he got in, he slowly looked around and spoke his first words since
arriving. He simply drawled, “If it’s worth doin’, it’s worth doin’ right.” He
nodded at me and drove off.
I finished that fence
a week or so later. The last portion of it was noticeably finer than the first.
Not better necessarily, the part I built first would separate cattle just the
same as the second part, but the second part looked like someone with pride -
pride in what they do - had built it.
I learned more about
work ethic, ego, try, pride and life that afternoon than in any other period of
my life consisting of the same time frame. I had a whole new respect for the
boss and a new outlook on life…and during the whole lesson; he’d only spoke
eight simple words.
