Waiting is part of life, so are rocks and trees

   I got behind a large dual-wheeled tractor the other day pulling a plow that was as big as my house. It’s a common sight these days as good weather has made its arrival and area farmers are in the fields planting corn and soybeans.
   It’s one of my favorite times of the year watching the farmers doing their thing taking care of the earth, planting seed and growing crops to feed the world.
    I was tempted to go around the big fella, but since I was less than a mile from my turnoff, I decided to wait it out and take my time.
    I wasn’t in a hurry and whatever needed to be done, could wait.
  It was kind of like that growing up in Tulsa, a city today of 400,000 plus, not including the dozen or so neighboring communities and suburbs surrounding Oklahoma’s second largest city.
   When I was kid growing up in the mid 1970s, the population was around 330,000. Not quite a big, but it was still a big city. There’s been a population explosion since back in the day. What used to be pastures and farmland between Tulsa and the surrounding small towns, today the roads are lined with shopping malls, movie theater complexes, restaurants, golf courses, convenience stores, office buildings, fancy hotels and expressways, etc.
   In the big city, it’s not uncommon to get in a traffic jam and have to wait through a half dozen stoplights to cross an intersection. And a half of mile or mile down the road, another stoplight awaits. Roads that were once two lane are now four lane with turnoffs and double left hand turns and the such.
   You can’t get in a hurry in the big city. One can cutoff and drive through a Wal-Mart parking lot or cut through a neighborhood, if you know a shortcut, but in the big city, waiting is what most have to do.
   Waiting is part of life.
   Graduation is just around the corner and area youth will soon be off to see the world.
   This is my advice.
   Life is full of well-meaning rocks and trees. You will run into them every day in the form of other people who have opinions about who you are and what they think you should be doing with your life. Some have good advice and others offer well-meaning advice.
   Don’t be distracted or let what others say keep you from reaching your goals in life. 
   When faced with a rock or tree, listen then go around, keep walking and keep believing. 
   Your future is bright and your goals are obtainable. 
   Back in college, I had a meeting with my advisor and director of the Ag-J program. I was struggling to get into journalism school. I had failed the required grammar test twice and it put me behind the “8” ball.
   To get into the University of Missouri School of Journalism, I was required to take a writing intensive course on the History of American Journalism and a news writing course. I was also required to get an 80 on the 100 question grammar test.
   These gentlemen suggested that I might consider going a different route. They suggested that I take a couple journalism courses and wrap up my degree in agricultural school with a general ag degree.
   As I sat there in the office that day, I told these gentleman that I came to MU to earn a degree in Agricultural Journalism and that is what I was going to do. I told them in 10 years, I would look back and think about what I did and that it was important to stay the course.
   Well, I passed the grammar exam that fall with an 82 and went on to have a great experience in journalism school and continue to enjoy what I have chosen to do in life.
   Enjoy your life, do good to others, give your best every day and mostly importantly, keep on walking.
   Congrats!
   Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.