From the Sorting Pens by John O’Dea: Scars

It would be nearly 20 years ago now. I accompanied my father CJ to a funeral for an old friend who had passed. CJ and Bob had worked together at the salebarn and had known each other close to 50 years. I noticed something in the attendees that most random groups of folks from a community wouldn’t have. Scars. Limps. Missing digits or limbs. Some were caused from defense of Country.There was more than a handful of veterans there like any rural gathering. But virtually every man had a visible scar, a missing digit, or a hobbled gate that they had acquired just from living this hard life. Each scar had a story.

We got to the truck and I mentioned it to Dad. He chuckled. “Yeah. They didn’t get that way behind a desk or on the golf course.”

I learned later that in most of these ag families, everyone has some invisible scars also. The trials that we face from an early age definitely make us who we are. Having the fortitude to try even though our destiny is so largely dependent on things outside of our control is a level of courage that not everyone possesses. Weather, market manipulation, regulations, government policy changes, development pressure, financial stress.  Finding the strength to persevere through huge emotional and financial losses isn’t easy.These things all take a little piece of the folks who are feeding a hungry nation.

Just like the cow dog with missing teeth and a split tongue or the good ranch gelding with saddle marks on his withers and healed wire cuts on his legs, these people with a few scars are the most capable and willing. They can be depended on when the world is at its worst. Our rural communities export great people to the urban areas who change the world for the better. They have seen and done from an early age. They have watched parents and grandparents put themselves in harm’s way to save a calf, a foal, or a human. They have seen mothers and grandmothers put themselves last on the priority list to make sure the taxes and the land payment get made. Mom sure could use a vehicle upgrade to get to her town job but the baler needs rebelted before hay season and the feed truck augers need reflighted. 

These young people see life and death on the daily. They see the scars. And they see what the scars really mean. You tried. Win or lose, the scar shows you were in the game, living life and trying to make a better life. When life challenges you and you need help, look towards the ones with a few scars. You are surrounded by folks who are carrying a scar or two because they love you and did things for you that you don’t even realize.  One of them did it about 2000 years ago.