So this story I made up is more about me trying to explain to myself my own thinking and the need for changing it than anything else. If you are entertained, so much the better.
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Wishing to be a farmer, a young man moved to a town renowned for its hard working, determined and prosperous farmers. He thought that he could work for one of them for a time and hopefully become just like them. For the man knew that determination and hard work were what really made good farmers.
After many days of asking around at the different farms, an older farmer finally agreed to hire the man. The farmer said to him that it would be hard work, that there would be times that he would feel like giving up, but that no joy was like the joy of farming.
So with these words in mind, the young man started his work. The farmer gave him his own small plot of land in order to plant and harvest corn. The young man really wanted to impress the farmer, so he worked harder than he had ever worked. From dusk till dawn, he did everything that the older farmer told him. Sometimes he felt like quitting, but he remembered what the farmer told him and he persevered. But the days became longer and longer.
Lots of times, he gritted his teeth in frustration as day after day came and went and he saw nothing growing in the field. He was getting impatient. He had done everything he was asked to do, but no corn came up yet.
Several times during those days he found the older farmer looking at him when he was most frustrated, and he quickly looked away, not wanting the farmer to see him being so frustrated.
After several weeks of this, one morning, he saw the first blades of the corn coming up on the fields. He was overjoyed. Finally! Finally! Something to show for his work!
In joy, the young man told the farmer how great it was to see the corn in the fields, that he was so happy now that he could see some progress. He said that he knew now in his heart that he wanted to be a farmer just like the older man.
The older farmer looked at the man for a long while in perfect silence. Then, walking back to the tractor, he started it and proceeded to plow under the field of corn.
In shock, the young man just stood. Too angry to speak. Finally, he walked off in exasperation.
He told himself that he would quit the very next day and find a farmer who appreciated his help. He would learn nothing here.
On the following morning, as he was packing his things, getting ready to leave the farm, the older farmer stopped the young man and asked,
"Why are you leaving. Did you not enjoy farming?"
The young man looked at the farmer in disbelief.
He shouted at the farmer, "How in the world could you ask me that. All the weeks and weeks of work and what do you do, plow it all under. How could you be so dense? You are just a cruel old man! I know when I am being screwed with! It's time for me to leave!"
The farmer paused, and asked in a low voice, "When you were working, sewing the seeds in the field, did you enjoy that? Be honest."
"Well, not really. That was hard work. But I remember what you told me and I didn't give up."
"I see. And when you had to fertilize the field. Did you enjoy doing that?"
"It needed to be done. I did it!"
"When the field needed to be irrigated, and watched, and the soil tested?" asked the farmer.
"Come on! No one can enjoy everything about their work. It was hard. It was tough. I stuck with it. And when the corn finally started coming in, I knew that the work was all worth it. Then you plowed it under. All that time and effort wasted! It would have been better if I had never done the work for you at all! I have wasted weeks of my life here at this farm!"
The older farmer paused and said,
"That is why you are not yet ready to be a farmer. You were happy when the plants sprouted, but the rest of the time, you were frustrated, angry, sullen, and miserable."
"But I got the corn to grow. I was happy yesterday when it came up." said the young man.
"Exactly!"
With that the farmer turned around and headed into the fields, leaving the man staring after him.
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