Tractor Thinking

In my persistent pursuit of avoiding all things have to do with study, reading, learning, preaching, and other follies, I have come to the conclusion that everyone should be required to learn to drive a tractor. I say this because good money was spent by parents, institutions, and me own self in the pursuit of learning, most to no avail.

My real education started when for 600.00 dollars I purchased a 1949 Massey Ferguson TO 20 tractor,cycle bar hay mower, hay rake and a cantankerous New Holland hay baler.

I was fresh out of college with a degree in Recreation/Park management and landed a job in DC. I hated it, and after a year accepted a tenuous job offer in WV helping develope a private recreation area. I took it and found myself in uncharted waters, a stranger in a strange land.

I quickly found that the natives were landed and family bound, and did not accept newcomers with open arms. Respect must be earned. It doesn't take long for those who have been there for 150 years to figure I was not a threat. I didn't have a damn thing in my pocket but a dull cheap knife,and empty wallet, and a college degree (known to them as a piece of paper).

I was however big, strong, willing, amusing, could play guitar (Points) and inexperieced enough not to be a threat. I was there to help that rich feller build recreational facility out of a wilderness. Curiosity and hope of employment brought them around, I suppose.

The facilities at Coolfont Re+creation consisted of a lake, 6 A frame cabins, beautifully built by locals, a blossoming campground, a cleaning crew, 2 office staff, me and two maintenance guys who could build and atom bomb out of a pile of rocks.

There were hiking trails, a trout hatchery, beach front with white sand, put and take trout pond, a camp ground with RV sites (first in the state) small camp store,  and a riding stable...with horse mouths to feed. That's where the TO 20 Fergy came in..Somebody had to hay the farm for the winter hay supply. Me!

I had some experience at my grandma's house in the summers as a kid working in the hay fields...but never the responsibility of doing it all, cutting, raking, baling, hauling, and storing enough for 40 horses for the WV winter.

I say all this to set the stage for my thesis on "tractor thought".

Driving a tractor doing hay in hot weather with the dull roar of the motor the clacking of a machine behind you is nerve wracking at first. When you get used to the field; where the groundhog holes, rocks, and stumps you can go on sound. Every new noise is a warning, but even those can be ignored...unless they change. You already know that sound.  I would find myself drifting into a trance, tractor thinking. That was the late 60's... Viet Nam, hippies, dope heads, race riots, segregation of schools, Chicago Democratic Convention debacle and all the other social issue of the times.

It's 50 years later...segregation has become somewhat of a reality. We are now trading partners with Viet Nam, progress has been made in women's rights, LGBTQ rights are out of the closet, Environmental regulations are reducing pollution. Computers have changed the world. Cell phones have overtaken the world. Politics in America has become stalemated in a Red and Blue tribalism...us against them..

My latest reoccurring tractor diatribe came yesterday while bush hogging for a  neighbor. I thought about the immigration to America, and how people came her to escape tyranny, religious persecution, to seek a new life not bound by family, clan, tribe, or despot. In other words we did not migrate here a as tribal units but family units with like minded ambitions.

That, it seems, separated us from Europe. We were English, Irish, Italian, French, German by decent, but were driven as individuals to come in small  groups to establish a new order. It worked pretty well.

Yes., there were problems, upheaval, social injustice, but somehow after the dust settled, things settled back down. We have survived wars with Mexico, Spain, England, Germany, Japan and our own Civil War. We have suffered pandemics of small pox, influenza, polio, typhoid, tuberculosis, and other calamities, and like the Energizer Bunny, keep on ticking.

So what's up with this new "tribalism"? Folks arming themselves "to protect others" from this or that. Resisting orders known to help prevent the spread of a virus that will kill you deader than hell, or kill someone else more vulnerable.

The "me" generation died with the Pepsi ad, people.  It's us. Not us against you or you against us. Us, together, will fare better than you by yourself.  We are families living in a good place. We need to remember that. No one is above the law, privileges are not just for the fortunate or wealthy. We are in this together from the homeless to the mansion on the hill. We need to look out for each other and especially our most vulnerable.

We, as Americans, are beginning to become the Ugly American talked about in the 50's. Our  reputation for being aloof, spoiled, spiteful, intolerant, whiny butt teenage brats is becoming a problem for us, and our friends and enemies abroad. We are truly a teenaged country at 200+ years old in comparison to the majority of countries in the world. We must pay our respects to their history, and use the example of ours to maintain our position in the world.

Now, I have never been a political animal. I didn't vote for years after college. I vote for every dog catcher in town now. I have always avoided confrontations, and try to mediate them where possible, and walk away if not successful.in coming to some understanding. No sense beating a dead horse. There will be other opportunities when tempers and times have changed.

 My Uncle Robert Lancaster taught Political Science at the U of the South...as Doctor of Law, he knew the subject. I took his class even though he was my Uncle. I made a C.  I took away from that class a positive message. People in political power are masters of compromise and come to an equitable solution good for all of us who elected them to that office. What's happened to that theory of government? I like that nobody got exactly what they wanted but it was "the best of both worlds".


I'm still riding the John Deere as I'm thinking all this about the Red and Blue. This country is floundering under the veil of political mistrust, decisive rhetoric, a pandemic that is devastating our population and financial markets, and an older generation of politicians who are still in control when they should smelling the roses in retirement. We old people have outlived our ability to cope with this modern world. We can still plant seeds, but the nimble and quick must be allowed to nourish the plants. They are the future...we had ours.

We are not tribes...we are Americans living in America, doing the best we can to survive...and we need all our energy, strength, wealth and good common sense to make these times come to an end...and not become a derisive "us against them" nation. We are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

Bus-hogging completed, $200.00 please. Thanks, see you next time...HI-HO, John Deere, AWAY.
Off to the next tractor thinking...