When teaching me life lessons, my boyhood best friend and mentor, Jaybird, used conundrums so effectively that, once solved, the lessons were indelibly imprinted in my mind, which was the case when he told me about one of the devil’s most useful tools: discouragement.
The old black man explained that Satan had updated some of his tools and was auctioning off the out-of-date versions, among them The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Wrath, and Sloth.
The sale was a great success. Wealthy bidders were willing to go to any length to get the tools, and offered huge amounts of money for them, knowing they would be extremely useful when dealing dishonestly with other people.
“But,” Jaybird said, “dey wuz one tool — discouragement — that Satan wouldn’t sell, and some of de sho-nuff rich folks wanted to know why.”
“It’s a tool that never needs updating,” Satan told them. “I can depend on it to serve my purposes almost every time. No tool works better for prying open human hearts, and when I get in, I can do just about anything I want to with that heart.”
Discouragement was one of Jaybird’s favorite techniques. His riddles often caused me to rack my brain, give up, and let discouragement sink in. In time, he’d explain, but only after he knew the solution I wanted to obtain so badly would become a permanent part of the guidelines for life that he was instilling in me.
One day, when I asked him if he was afraid of dying, he put the technique to work.
“Ain’t nothing to dying … once you git de hang o’ it,” he answered.
“That’s stupid,” I retorted. “How can you get the hang of something you will do only one time?”
“Ain’t nothing to dying … once you git de hang o’ it,” he mumbled again.
Whereas Satan uses discouragement for destructive purposes, Jaybird used it constructively. In his own unique way, he was teaching me not to give up when striving to attain worthy goals.
As a college teacher, I sometimes utilize a “can’t do” ruse to generate a “can do” mindset among students.
The strategy involves presenting a challenge in such a way that students are determined to overcome it; then I orchestrate their efforts to obtain the solution.
If I am successful, I teach them what Jaybird taught me: One must never let discouragement be a deterrent to overcoming difficulties encountered on the road to achievement, and that life is an interminable problem-solving process in which discouragement must be overcome constantly. The more it is overcome, the less of an impediment it becomes. Experience in defeating Satan’s tool leads to losses for him and victories for humankind.
Looking at me agonizing in discouragement, Jaybird chuckled, patted me on the head, and said, “Boy, what I want you to see is, once you git de hang o’ it, dey ain’t nuttin’ to livin’. All you got to do is overcome de devil’s wicked tool: discouragement.”
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
