Learning the hard way

By Rennie Phillips

Down through the years I've learned a lot of lessons, some out of books and some out of life in general. Some lessons I've learned and then forgotten, so I had to relearn them. It's funny how some lessons need to be learned time and again. And then there are lessons we learn from life and remember vividly. If I've already told some of these stories, forgive me. My mistake.

One I remember like it was yesterday was when I was helping Dad do some iron work. Dad didn't have a shop to work in so he was working outdoors. He was cutting some pieces of iron with the acetylene torch, so some were hot and some were cool. He told me not to touch any of them because some were hot. I heard but didn't listen, or I didn't hear because I'd turned off that listen mode to minding my dad. Either way, it was hot -- real hot. I fried my one hand. I still remember that.

Vic, our oldest son, was little and he was helping me do some carpentry work. I'm not sure what I was doing, but I was using the utility knife. I must have been cutting something like insulation and then putting it up because I laid down the knife. I told Vic it was sharp and to leave it alone. He didn't listen, and it was sharp. He still remembers that. Just the other day I found that same Evans Utility knife that he cut his finger on. Probably what I need to do is give that same knife to Vic and tell him it's sharp.

Lessons learned when we are but years old seem to stay with us. I was maybe 10 or 12 and I was helping Dad move the tractors home from my grandpa's place. I was driving a little Cub tractor. There was a big hill we had to come down, so naturally the Cub started to go faster and faster. So I stepped on the clutch, which normally makes the tractor slow down and stop. It didn't work on the hill. So I let out the clutch real slow and stepped on the brake. That worked. Lesson learned.

Down through the years I've read hundreds of books and articles about everything from black powder shooting to gardening to carpentry. Years ago I bought a Dixie Black Powder catalog from their store in Union City, Tennessee. The Dixie catalog has hundreds of examples in it of a person doing something stupid. Some ended up shooting themselves by accident or blowing themselves up. One story I remember told about incidents back when black powder guns were going out of demand. They would load them with dynamite and blow the gun up for amusement. Some of these guns didn't blow up, so now we have a seemingly harmless muzzle loader full of dynamite just waiting for some innocent guy to torch it off and blow themselves up. Assuming a gun is loaded is never wrong.

Probably one of the dumbest things I have done was try to burn out a tree stump with gas. When we lived on Helene Street in Scott City we had a fig tree that the Dohannes had planted. It had figs on it for several years but eventually died. So we cut the tree down, but a stump remained. I decided to burn the stump. I poured some gas on the stump and let it sit for awhile. I'd pour some more gas on and then let it soak in. After doing this for a good while I torched it and let it burn. After several hours the fire had gone out, so I poured more gas on the stump. The fire hadn't gone out. I can still see the fire coming up that thin stream of gas into the gallon bucket I was holding. All I could think of doing was to pitch the bucket and run. It worked, and I didn't get burned. I haven't done that again and bet I never will.

When we lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, I needed some transportation, so we were looking to buy an old pickup. We were looking at a late '50s or early '60s pickup. Not sure what year it was. It drove good and ran decent. It didn't cost a lot, so we went ahead and bought it. One tire was a little low so I pumped up the tire. The pickup went from a good-driving pickup to one that wandered around like an old drunk. One low tire will tighten up a loose steering pickup. I learned a lot from that old pickup. It had a three-speed shifter on the column, and if you didn't shift just right, it got stuck between gears. So I'd have to stop and unstick the shifter. A lesson learned.

Some would say they have never made a mistake. I doubt that is true. All of us have made a mistake or two or three, or quite possibly a whole bunch. I'm still making them. It seems like with age one would wise up and not make as many mistakes, but that's not true for me. I started planting seeds back in December, getting things ready for the garden this summer, so as fall approaches I think back on the successes and the failures. There were both.

I think the key is not just focusing on the mistakes as failures but as stepping stones to success. As I think about the dumb things I've done, I also realize that they helped make me who I am. And then along with the mistakes there have been a bunch more success stories. For every failure there have been hundreds of positives.

If you see me smile for no apparent reason, I just might be thinking back on some distant event where I just might have done it right or quite possibly wrong.

Don't take life so serious! Enjoy life.