Cyndi's Two Cents

The 117th day of January

One of my friends on social media suggested last week that it was not mid-April, but the 117th day of January. Blizzards, wildfires, flooding and drought all occurred somewhere in the heartland of this country on that day. I was ashamed of myself for complaining about snow flurries and icy winds when I learned of the devastation caused by wildfires in Oklahoma.  I choked back tears when I talked to my friends in western Iowa who were in the peak of calving season when Mother Nature dumped a foot of snow and 50 mile-per-hour winds on their farm.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  Farming is no job for sissies.

After telling him about a particularly irritating comment or action taken by one of the many anti-ag groups, my husband suggested (as he has many times before) perhaps they should experience all that farmers go through to grow a safe and abundant food supply.  The old “walk a mile in my shoes” idiom applies here!

Another expression that aptly applies today is “No one said that life is fair.”  Bribery in the form of hush money was a topic on a national news program a few nights ago.  My husband looked at me and said, “These wealthy people live in a different world than we do.  Imagine what we could do with the sums of money they are throwing around?  A person could buy a farm with the amount of money they are paying to keep people quiet.

I’m not suggesting people of wealth are all bad.  I know some wonderful wealthy people.  What is the definition of wealth, anyway?  No amount of money can buy morality, a clean conscience or true friends.

Another expression that has become a mantra for many these days: “Don’t text and drive.”  I could not agree more.  I’ve had some close calls in my travels when men and women (of all ages) are distracted by their phones and swerve into my lane.  I hadn’t really thought about it until last week when I met an Amish buggy which happens frequently on that stretch of highway. The man in the buggy had his head down so I couldn’t see his face- just the top of his hat. When I got closer I noticed he was reading a newspaper.

I was the last in a string of 5 vehicles headed north and there were more coming South. There was some congestion as cars were turning in at a gas station or onto the nearby interstate. Amidst the chaos, there was a man in a horse-drawn buggy.

It’s illegal (and careless) to text and drive. Shouldn’t it be the same if you are driving a vehicle pulled by a horse?

The final phrase for today is from a very old poem by Alexander Pope: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”  Despite all the negativity, disappointment, sadness, unfairness and discouragement we encounter every day in this business of growing food, fiber and fuel while stewarding the land, air, water and livestock on our farms, we remain hopeful.  It’s inherent in nearly every farmer I know.