Boldness Has Genius, Power, And Magic In It

Once during my college teaching career, the dean told me to complete a course that lost its instructor. When I complained that the semester was almost over, that I had no idea what had been covered, and furthermore that I had never taught that course before, the former Marine drill sergeant pointed to the door and dismissed me with the same words he no doubt growled to countless terrified recruits: “Like it or not, you will do whatever must be done.” I had no idea how to prepare for the course. Then I thought about my boyhood years on Dad’s Mississippi Delta farm and about my best friend and mentor Jaybird, the toughest, wisest man I have ever known. His answer to the daunting challenge I faced and reluctance to undertake it would have been, “If you are looking for an easy day, boy, look to yesterday.” So, I did what I often did as a boy: I talked to Jaybird, my guardian angel, knowing he would provide the guidance I so desperately needed.

The old black man’s answer didn’t come quickly; they never did. He always withheld advice, forcing me to think through difficulties on my own, thereby improving problem-solving skills. The more I thought about that unfamiliar course, the more one word Jaybird hated popped into my mind: Can’t. Whenever I used that negative word, he immediately shouted, “Can’t is in Satan’s vocabulary; Can is in God’s.” I remembered another of his sayings, one that aptly described his attitude toward productivity: “A steady grind hews a mountain down.” Sunup to sundown, Jaybird faced even the most difficult tasks with energy and equanimity. He was the hardest working person I have ever known. I know, because when school was out he picked me up at sunrise, made me work alongside him in the fields all day, and brought an exhausted boy home at sunset. 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 coincided with attitudes toward sloth espoused by many philosophers. He would have agreed with Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s belief: Nothing makes people feel nobler than work. Without work, a person cannot have human dignity. Or, French philosopher Michel de Montaigne’s: 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. In a world craving results, people must not offer excuses, and I knew the dean would not accept one anyway; he demanded results, and got them. Before stepping to the podium in the new class, I bowed my head and asked God for courage and guidance — and received them. The challenge was great; the God-given courage, greater, and proved what philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said: Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s upcoming book, entitled The Jaybird Tales. The book will be available before the holiday season. Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (jimmycecilreedjr@gmail.com).