Start Straight

I loved spring.  The days were getting longer, the birds were beginning to return.  The snow had melted and we knew that planting time was just around the corner.  It also meant we got to start plowing.  I loved to plow.  Working with the soil taught me how dependent upon the earth we all are.  Plowing also meant planting wasn’t far behind.  Planting row crops was different than planting fields of alfalfa or barley.  When planting row crops it was important to get the rows straight.  When I was younger I didn’t understand why that was so important but as I matured I came to understand there were several reasons.  It was much harder to cultivate a crooked row.  The horse pulling a cultivator down the rows did much better if it didn’t have to change directions.  Irrigating crooked rows was also problematic.  And then there was the appearance of the field to consider.  If the rows meandered with no appearance of skill or care it reflected badly on the farmer.  So Grandpa taught me the extreme importance of getting the first row straight.  Unlike today’s farmers that have laser guided tools to assist them in getting things straight, we relied upon a fixed point and our experience.  We would pick something to which we could focus and steer directly toward it.  Once the first row had been planted in a straight line, it was much easier to get all the other rows straight because we then relied on that first row as our point of reference.  It acted as our foundation of sorts.  If that first row was straight it was likely that all the rows would be straight.  Conversely, if it wasn’t, it was harder to get the later rows straight.  I learned it was just easier to get that first row straight even if it took longer to plant.  It made everything that followed that much easier.  Not to mention it just looked better.  It reminds me of golf.  In golf, if your tee shot stays in the fairway, the next shot is much easier than if it lands somewhere in a trap or the rough.  If you start in the rough, your next shot will more than likely not be as effective as if it had been in the fairway.  In retrospect, I can see the value in starting my life based upon true principles, staying in the fairway, moving toward a fixed point with riveted focus, if you will.  Far too often I, and others I’ve known, have decided to play the game from the rough or started with crooked rows thinking it didn’t make any difference.  But it did.  It always does.  We often make things so much harder than they have to be.  If repetitive patterns become habits, wouldn’t it be wise to make those habits productive.  Life is hard enough without making it more difficult by always having to undo things previously done unwisely before progress can resume.