When you Travel Too Far From Good Advice
And cross the fence to meet Charley.
When I was a wee lad, I had a little problem. Actually, I had a big problem. Like many young kids, I did not like to listen to warnings.
My family and I visited my aunt and uncle's farm one day and came across something I could not resist.
On the farm was a large fenced-in area. I was told not to go over the fence because behind the fence lived Charley the ram. I had never seen a ram before. And although most of my family had been farmers I hadn’t seen very many farm animals.
Somehow I was able to sneak away from my three cousins and two brothers to get a closer look at this mysterious ram. I walked to the fence and looked at the small, distant form of the ram Charley. I climbed through the fence and cautiously crept my way across the field and inched closer to Charley.
When I was about fifty feet away, Charley whipped his head up and stared at me. I froze and stared back. The ram didn’t move so I took a few more slow steps towards him.
Charley the small ram then charged towards me and rammed me to the ground with surprising force for his size. I frantically tried to get up and run but each time Charley knocked me back down again.
My cousins rushed out towards the field with pots and pans and screamed at Charley to go away. They rescued me from being further pummelled by Charley as he protected his territory.
The rest was a blur, but I was later told that I was carried back to the house with only minor injuries but a major lesson learned.
Good advice in life can be hard to come by. We are either bombarded with multiple opinions and options or at times others seem too scared to give us a truthful warning.
In our culture, it is a rare and valuable thing to find someone who will tell you the truth in a caring way.
This kind of person is concerned enough to give you a warning and is kind enough not to bash the advice over your head.
To look for these qualities in others is good. But the real test is to put these qualities in ourselves.
If you find someone who speaks plainly to you, then treasure them. Their advice can keep you out of many of life’s troubles.
