9 A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

I was blessed with one of the best brothers in the world. Richard has always been a cheerful, humble, sweet personality. I have learned many great lessons from him. When I was in the 5th grade and my brother was in the 2nd grade, our family moved from Marysville, California to a small town along Highway 101. The town was named Willits.

Our parents had packed all of our earthly belongings into one of those square back Ford cars. I think it was a 1936 model. Our only mattress was laid out behind the front seat of the car over the top of everything that we owned. My sister, Marilyn, and my brother Richard and I had just enough room to lay on top of the mattress with our heads against the roof of the car. When the car bounced a little we could see some of the passing country side.

It was a fun and big adventure for the children, but I'm not sure about Mom and Dad. We had very little money, a little food, but no job and no place to live.

Our aunt and uncle came along in a small car of their own. My step father and my uncle Curley had heard that they could get work in Willits. So with great faith and hope we had made the move.

We ended up north of Willits and got permission from a goat rancher to
camp on his ranch for a couple of months; free of charge. We set up camp right next to his goat corrals. The smell was horrible, but we got used to it. Well...I don't think mom ever did, but my brother and I did. For my brother and I, it was just another great adventure. We tried to learn goat language, but never could figure out what the goats were saying to us. Well, in this setting, I will tell you about one of the great lessons that I learned while living among the goats.

One day Richard and I were playing "cars" along the side of the dirt road that was in front of our camp. There was a dirt bank and we had spent hours carving roads, making bridges, etc. We had 3 or 4 small blocks of wood that we were using for cars.

Suddenly, two men drove up in a car. The driver rolled down the window and asked, "Do you boys know where the Brown's live?" I responded, "There are some people who live on down the road, but we don't know their names."

"How far is it to their place?" asked the man. I was about to tell him that I thought it was about a mile, when the very knowledgeable and confident voice of my brother answered. "Oh, its about four quarters of a mile down the road." The men glanced at each other with smirky smiles and I thought, "That's a dumb answer. Why doesn't he just say it's a mile; not four quarters of a mile?"

Before I could say anything else, the men thanked us and drove on down the road. I was about to say something to Richard when I saw the smile on his face and the light in his 2nd grade eyes. Then I thought, "What difference does it make? He's right too. It's just another way of looking at it."

I didn't say anything. We went back to our play and I was happy to have a brother who was enjoying life.

LESSON LEARNED

The experience with my brother has helped me throughout my life to realize that there are different ways to look at things. Most of the time one way is just as good as the other.

8 Chickens Can't Swim

I spent many summers on Uncle Herb's farm in Marysville, California. He had pigs, cows, rabbits, chickens and so forth. I used to play day after day among the animals. My Uncle also had ten acres of prune trees, which he irrigated quite often. During, and sometimes after, irrigating there would be large puddles of standing water. I had watched the ducks thoroughly enjoy these puddles.

One day as I was watching them, I noticed a fairly young chicken standing by the water looking at the ducks. Wanting to help the chicken have some fun too, I picked it up and threw it into a large puddle.

Frantically it fought its way back to the shore. I picked it up and again threw it back into the water. Again it made its way to dry ground. It was wet, exhausted and I think angry. After four or five times of being thrown into the water the chicken drowned. I waded in and picked it up. I was afraid now at what Uncle Herb would do to me. The chicken was dead! So I put it's head under its wing like Uncle Herb had shown me to do one time and swung the chicken back and forth several times. I then laid the chicken on the ground. This process usually puts a chicken to sleep for a minute or two. So, I reasoned that Uncle Herb would find the chicken and think that it had gone to sleep and died!

I ran off to play with some other animals and did not return to the chicken by the pond for an hour or so. Finally my curiousity got the best of me and I returned to find the chicken gone! I thought that Uncle Herb must have found it and thrown it into the garbage. However, much to my surprise, I saw the chicken a few minutes later in the barnyard. It appeared to be all right, but when it saw me it ran and hid among some other chickens.

LESSON LEARNED

I decided that it is best not to try and change what God has placed in nature. Let a duck be a duck and a chicken be a chicken and a person be who he or she needs to be. We should enjoy each creation of God in the sphere in which He has placed it.