Sebenleben, Uhmadgin, Goodeel

From sunup to sundown, my boyhood best friend and mentor Jaybird was always busy. Achievement through productivity gave him great satisfaction. For him, hard work seemed as natural as breathing. Even though well up in years when he took me, a boy of ten, under his wing, during our long days working together in Dad’s Mississippi Delta cotton fields, keeping up with him was an all-day challenge. He was a doer, not a talker; he spoke through actions, not words. Even so, some of his words with multiple meanings offset his limited vocabulary. I remember three: sebenleben, uhmadgun, goodeel.

Sebenleben derived from his fondness for shooting dice, when he used it to implore the “bones” to turn up simultaneously two sure-win numbers — seven and eleven. In daily endeavors that had unpredictable outcomes, he always muttered “sebenleben” before beginning. Uhmadgun was a catchall term, and depending on circumstances, might mean, yes, no, maybe, or let me think on it. He detested stupid questions, and if asked one, would answer, “I uhmadgin,” which when directed to me meant, “Quit asking me dumb questions, boy.” Goodeel was his term for multiple quips, including, “Good job,” and “We hit the jackpot.” Always, when our day’s work was done, he’d pat me on the head and say, “Goodeel.” If referring to a future situation, he might say, “We got a goodeel of work to do today, boy,” or, “The Mississippi River is falling. Them big bream at Percy Blue Hole will be feeding. Sebenleben — let’s go! We might catch a goodeel of them.” He was rarely wrong about fishing; when we went, we almost always caught a goodeel. At times when Jaybird would have, I’ve used those three terms all my life. The reason is that he understood something I had to learn through experience, as he did: Reality has boundaries; imagination doesn’t … especially when used positively. To him, people who stymied their imaginations by bemoaning how much better life would be if they had things they don’t have — and probably won’t ever have — fail to cherish and utilize assets they do have, without which they’d be hopeless.

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The wise old black man taught me that, while I must cherish all gifts God gave me, I must not cling to them so tightly that I couldn’t live without them, or let them limit my determination to acquire what I “uhmadgun” would improve my life. During my long college teaching career, that simple but profound philosophy, instilled in me by a master mentor, caused me to look for latent skills in all students, regardless of their academic performance. Teachers must search for that untapped potential, especially in those with low self-esteem who may view themselves as failures. This I know: When the fires of desire and determination are lit, young people can conquer defeatist attitudes. I taught them what Jaybird taught me, by using the wisdom found in three of his words which were never included in the students’ weekly vocabulary lists: Sebenleben, Uhmadgin, Goodeel.