Sometimes I look at the other guys around here and I think, "What the hell have I been doing with my life?" Take this steely-eyed man in the photo to the right, George. He's Leann's uncle by marriage.
At our old five-acre place we had a two-horse trailer that wasn't working right when hooked up to the truck. You'd turn on the blinkers and the brake lights would come on. You'd hit the brakes and the horn would sound, that kind of thing.
We needed to get the trailer in the driveway, which wound all around a bunch of trees and in general was a real bear to navigate. I tried a dozen times couldn't get it backed in. Luckily George was there, and he guided me with a sure hand to the stall where we needed it. Turns out that in the Army he used to train guys how to drive enormous military vehicles.
Once we got it parked, I told him about the problem with the trailer hookup. He pulled out a screw driver, sat down with the cord, and in half an hour had rewired it so everything worked right.
He knows about vehicles, pastures, real estate, fishing, boats, animals, playing poker, and pretty much anything else you'd need to turn your hand to out in the country. He's seen more, done more, and knows more than I ever could in a dozen lifetimes.
I see guys like him, and I think, "What the hell have I been doing with my life?" If a web site needs redesigning, I'm the man, but that kind of pales compared to rewiring a trailer at the drop of a hat. Your animals and your family rely on that working properly or they could lose their lives. I make a bad web site and feh, who cares? Nobody dies.
It's humbling, knowing someone like George. Humbling, and enobling, and inspiring. I'm only half a country boy; it's good to see a country man to show me what to aim for.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
A Tale of Two Georges I
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2 comments:
You're right about guys like George. They know how to do every-day practical stuff like unclog a toilet, turn the water off at the street, change the oil in your car, bluff at poker like a pro, fix sheetrock, install a ceiling fan and all those other things that will elude me my entire life. At least you have a couple of these guys in your life! Pity those who do not! But don't sell yourself short -- you have wonderful talents in other areas -- you can figure out what's wrong with a computer in less than 15 minutes, you can hook up a DVD player and/or VHS machine to a TV blindfolded and you can dance like you're walking on air. And when it comes to the Internet, Jeff, you da man! Okay, so we will never be able to figure out how electricity can travel from Niagra Falls and make my coffee pot work, but that's okay. We'll stumble through life and have a helluva good time bumbling around! And when in doubt... get out the hammer and black electrical tape. At least you'll look competent!
We all have our strengths my brother. when I help my son rewrite his papers or when he asks me about some little knwon historical fact and I answer off the cuff he looks at me like "Dang dad you know everything." the other day I showed him an easier way to mow the lawn. the same way a landscaper I worked for one summer back in 1980 showed me. the time will come when your gathered knowledge will be called upon by a younger generation and what you have learned will be passed on. and the kids will say "he was the guy that built the first heromachine back near the turn of the century."
Aloha compadre,
the REAL Jeff
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