A few years ago, about halfway through a semester, my boss, the college dean, told me to finish teaching a course whose instructor was unable to continue due to illness.
“But, Sir,” I moaned, “I have no idea what has been covered so far, and besides, I’ve never even taught that course before.”
“Well, like it or not, you’re going to teach it,” he ordered. “I’ve got no one else to take his place.” That was the end of that.
My boyhood best friend and mentor, Jaybird, began his well-earned rest in the Lord’s eternal embrace years ago, but through his teachings, he is still alive in my heart and mind, and I still go to him for advice.
As always, when I came to him with problems, he withheld the answer, hoping that I would come up with it myself. He knew that was the best way to be certain his wisdom would remain with me for life.
Still, the more I thought about that extra course, the more one word Jaybird hated kept popping into my mind: Can’t.
Whenever I used that word, the old black man would scold me by quoting one of his favorite sayings: “Dey kilt ole Can’t and whupped old Couldn’t ’til he said he could.”
This time, I remembered another of his sayings, one that aptly described his attitude toward productivity.
Sunup to sundown, he was the hardest working man I have ever known, and if asked how he faced even the most daunting tasks with energy and equanimity, he was certain to say, “A steady grind will hew a mountain down.”
Jaybird drank heartily of the elixir called work, and spat out the nepenthe known as idleness. He didn’t know the meaning of the word philosophy, but his scorn for laziness coincides with the attitude toward sloth espoused by many philosophers.
He would certainly have agreed with Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who said, “Nothing makes people feel nobler than work. Without work, a person cannot have human dignity.”
Or, French philosopher Michel de Montaigne: “The most outstanding gifts are destroyed by idleness.”
Or, famed aphorist Charles Caleb Colton: “From its very inaction, idleness ultimately becomes the most active cause of evil.”
Or, Greek philosopher Plutarch: “Poverty is dishonorable only when it comes from idleness.”
Or, American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford: “Nobody thinks straight who doesn’t work; idleness warps the mind.”
In a world craving results, people must not offer excuses, and I knew the dean wouldn’t accept one anyway; he demanded results … and got them.
On the first day in my new class, I made no excuses to the students. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it, a famous philosopher once said. Boldly I stepped to the lectern, and boldly plowed my way through the remainder of the course.
I didn’t let the dean down, I didn’t let the students down, I didn’t let Jaybird down, and, most of all, I didn’t let myself down: I hewed the mountain down.
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)).
