WEBVTT - Ep. 131: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Minding Your Manners, Part 1 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.200 Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Rieves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:15.720 I want you to stay a while as. 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.080 I share my stories and the country skills that will 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.640 help you beat the system. This Country Life is proudly 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:25.400 presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.520 the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:28.480 The airways have to offer. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.920 All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:32.680 that tailgate. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:34.720 I think I got a thing or two. The teacher 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:40.400 Minding your manners. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.000 Minding your manners. Man that's like biscuits and gravy, And 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.880 just like good biscuits and gravy these days, sometimes they're 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.280 hard to find. It was instilled in my noggat at 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.080 birth that as a male member of this planet, that 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.440 I was saddled with a few inherent responsibilities. Don't pick 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.480 on folks, I'm all than you. Defend those that can't 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:08.520 defend themselves, and show everyone as much respect as they'd allow. Now, 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.560 obviously we're talking about manners and acting right this week, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.679 but it's going to be a little different. This is 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.560 going to be my first two part episode. Next week, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.040 in part two, we're going to dig into the specifics 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.679 about manners. But today I'm going to unravel a tale 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:29.000 from my childhood that took forty six years to complete. 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:35.600 But before I do, I want to tell you a story. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.800 A while back, I got an email from a young 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.520 man who was in college in Arkansas. He was interested 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.520 in coon hunting. He was from another state, had never 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.280 been coon hunting in his life, but he'd listened to 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.800 clayon Nuklem and I talking about it on one of 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:58.360 Clay's Bear Grease episodes. He reached out, and his email 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.720 was so kind and respectful and well thought out. So 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:04.920 I invited them to come and go with me. And 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.240 after a few days we met up and we went hunting. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.120 He pulled up to my house in a truck that 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.440 looked like he'd built it himself for the parts that 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.200 no one else wanted. He jumped out, smiling, shook my 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.080 hand firmly, and told me how much he appreciated me 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.200 taking him hunting. He didn't know his behind from fifteen 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.519 cents when it came to anything about hounds or chasing 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.200 combs with him, and that was all right. It was 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.160 fun for me to teach him, at least what I 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:33.800 knew about it. And anytime I get to hunt with 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.960 someone that's interested in it and wanting to be there, 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.080 they'll get just as excited as I do. And I 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.640 really enjoy sharing it with him. It makes it that 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.400 much more fun for me. And I've always said that 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.520 sharing a burden with someone will lighten your load, and 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.760 sharing a joy will multiply it. And I can't think 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.400 of anything better to share than the love of a 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.800 dog and witnessing what that's dog purpose in life is. 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.200 Because I promise you, neither one of us was having 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:09.160 any more fun than old Whalen was. Now, like most 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.720 folks putting themselves through college, he didn't have a lot 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.000 of extra money, especially to spend on hunting equipment. On 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.960 his first night out, we drove to our hunting spot 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.040 and he pulled out a homemade light that attached to 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:26.200 his head by a strap and pired by wires connected 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.880 to a six volt battery that he toted it around 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.639 in his hand like a rock. The wires weren't long 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.040 enough for him to put the battery in his breeches pocket, 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.400 and that would have drove me crazy, but he'd never 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.680 said a word about it. His hunting boots were a 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.320 pair of Chuck Taylor converses. He never complained about the 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.840 wires coming loose causing his light to go out, never 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.520 commented that he wished he had a better one, or 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.160 a reference to anything about how dim it was. Never 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.920 said anything about wading through water in his shoes that 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.680 I know in my heart was the same pair that 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.000 he was wearing in school that day. I didn't say 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.480 nothing about him either, that would have been rude. He 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.720 was happy to be there, and I was enjoying his company, 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.360 and we had a great time. He asked a million questions, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.200 and Whaling did his job by treating a few coons. 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:18.640 I invited him to come back again, and in a 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.640 few days when his schedule allowed it, I had a 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.479 light waiting for him when he got there. It was 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.159 an older coon hunting light that was more or less 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.400 an emergency sparis since I didn't use it, but I'd 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.320 held on to it, and while it wasn't new, it 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.320 was several steps above a headband and tote a battery. 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.840 I'd invited my good friend Rex white and to go 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.039 with us, and he brought him an old pair of 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.440 hip boots that he had to say, my little buddy 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.120 was overjoyed as quite an understatement. If you're unfamiliar with 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.480 hip boots, they're just a rubber boot that have material 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.159 swn to the top of the boot called chaps, and 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.599 a strap and a buckle attached to the top that 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.320 you lose around your belt. The chaps are a waterproof 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.360 layer for your breeches legs, and as long as you 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.880 don't wade in water that's higher than they go up 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.600 your legs, you're gonna stay dry. Now, my new hunting 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.680 buddy had never owned a pair of these boots in 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.080 his life, and when he put them on and pulled 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.560 the leggings up, he was looking at the straps and 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.800 the buckles the way a caf looks at a new gate. 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.200 He said, what are these for? I told him. 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.600 I said, just fasten them. They'll keep you chaps from 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.159 falling down while you walk. And with that instruction, I 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.440 had turned back to cutting whaling loose, and the three 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.680 of us stood there in conversation in the dark, all 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.640 about things about coon hunting. It was good to have 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.479 Rex with us. He was my coon hunting mentor, and 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.320 he was helping me train whaling. In answered a ton 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.520 of questions from our guest. Whaling got treated and we 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.040 all three took off toward where he was. We were 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.520 walking through the knee deep water, and with every step 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.680 I just knew my young friend was enjoying those boots. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.240 What I didn't understan was why he kept falling further 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:06.360 and further behind. He was almost three times as young 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.240 as Rex and I and was skinning his old job's turkey. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.440 He should have been out running everyone out there except Whaling. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:15.840 We got to the tree and we waited for him 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.520 to get there. We let him find the coon, and 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.080 we cut Whaling loose again. We just stood there talking 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.599 in the dark, waiting for Whaling the tree again, which 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.960 in he did in pretty short order. We cut her 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.960 lights back on and we three took off again, and 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.840 again he fell behind. When he made it to the tree, 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.000 Rex and I had already found the coon and we 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.640 showed it to him. We cut Whaling loose again and 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.719 once again cut her lights out, and found ourselves standing 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.919 there talking in the dark. That boy never said a 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:54.119 word about his boots. Not one complaint. My coon hunting 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.719 protege turned his light back on and walked back over 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:58.920 to have another look at the coon that was still 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.520 in that tree wreck saw something that I hadn't paid 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.440 any attention to. He said, well, now I know why 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.960 college boy can't keep up with us. He's hobbled himself. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.040 I said, do what Rick said. Yeah, instead of attaching 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.800 his bootstraps to his belt, looks like he's tied them 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:18.960 together and told him in his hand like a set 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.920 of reins to keep from falling down. No wonder he 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:22.760 can't keep up. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:24.640 Well. 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:26.640 I walked over to where he was standing and we 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.320 looked at that koon for a minute. 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:28.720 Just talking. 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.480 All the while I was thinking of how not to 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.520 embarrass him, so out of the blue, I just said, 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.040 looks like these traps on your boots would come undone. 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.160 Those buckles are tricky sometime, let me fix it for you. 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.000 I buckled one correctly around his belt, and as soon 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.600 as I did, it was like he had an extra 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.000 light above his head that wasn't attached to his hat. 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.400 His face turned beat red, and I could tell that 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.280 he had just figured it out, and he snapped the 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.280 other and I never said anything, and he never said anything, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.400 and Old Rex, he never said anything. At least we 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.680 didn't say anything in front of him. It was funny 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.680 and we still laugh about. But what seems second nature 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.880 to some may be a mystery to others. And it 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:17.560 thanks sure ain't a sign of someone's intelligence for not 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:22.600 knowing that boy's smart as a whip. My friend hasn't 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.920 hunted with us in a while since the school load 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.960 got so heavy, And the guy that didn't have a 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.400 grasp on how a bootstrap worked will finish up his 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:36.160 master's degree in business next fall, and that'll go nicely 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:40.160 with the law degree he finished last spring. I tell 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:41.840 you this out of the three of us that was 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.439 on that hunt that night, for if you count old Whalen, 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.040 he'd be my pick to keep me out of the 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.040 electric chair. Who knows, I may need that one day. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.920 But one thing's for sure. Our meeting and becoming friends 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:58.880 was a direct result of a well written, respectful email. 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.200 Manners can be a key that unlocks adventure and knowledge. 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.040 I like to think we taught him a few things, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.920 and if he didn't teach me anything, he definitely reinforced 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.360 some stuff. Being happy with what you have, living within 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.320 your means, prioritizing your budget, and working hard toward a 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.360 better life is the best way to succeed. He may 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.360 not have been able to afford a new truck, a 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.000 new light, or even a new pair of hunting boots 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.440 at that time, but he will, and those good manners 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.360 they didn't cost him a nickel, but it paid his 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.160 way into a lifetime of a standing invitation. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.440 To hunt with me whenever he wants. And that's just 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:47.360 how that happened. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.040 There's a ton of lists and books that describe the 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:11.400 proper etiquette for different situations and the manners associated with them. 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:13.760 It was just a part of growing up for me. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.560 While I could be considered semi feral, how I acted 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.480 in any place I found myself was a part of 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.640 my home training, just like reading and writing in school 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:29.800 was saying please, thank you, You're welcome, Yes, ma'am and no, sir. 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.360 I do it a lot out of habit, but to 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.800 the folks that hear it, it tells them that I 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.520 value them as a neighbor. And they may not be 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.560 my next door neighbor, but in the scope of humanity, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.920 we're all neighbors to some degree. And I'm not sure 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.079 when or why the decline in teaching children manner started, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.080 but it's not hard to see that it has. And 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.400 to me, manners are a direct result of the amount 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.600 of respect you have for others and yourself. Now, I've 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.839 had grown folks around my children when they're talking to them, 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.440 and one of my kids would say yes, ma'am and 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.199 the adult would say, oh, you don't have to say 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.920 yes ma'am to me, and that's when I would say, oh, yes, 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.880 they do. It's not a statement about your age. It's 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.280 a sign of respect for you as an adult. I 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.400 was taught that just like every generation in my family before. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.920 I asked my oldest daughter about what her memory of 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.240 manners training was in our family, and she gave me 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.320 the example that I just quoted you. She gave me 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.120 another one that when I or any other adult asked 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.600 her a question and she said yes or no, that 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.640 I'd always say, I'm sorry what you say, and she'd 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.160 correct it by using the appropriate term of respect by 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.520 adding sir or ma'am while I tried to set her 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.280 on fire with my eyeballs. She still has good manners, 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.400 and I still get compliments from folks about how kind and. 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:58.240 Respectful she is. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.440 She cuts hair for a living, and if you'd like 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.920 to get some compliments, you ought to look her up 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.760 and let her skills turn your head into something new. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:08.360 And your parents could be proud of. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.520 Now, back at the beginning, I teased you about a 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:17.719 story that took forty six years complete. She's part of it, 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:29.760 and here it is. There was never a time when 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.680 my mother got called to the school for any reason 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.200 as a result of my behavior that the first question 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:41.080 out of her mouth wasn't was he disrespectful? One time 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.880 I'm reminded of was in the sixth grade. I don't 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.640 remember if it was before or after the time I 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.160 hopped a train with an accomplice, leaving school and the 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.960 rest of those suckers for a day of freedom and cigarettes. 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.800 But on this day, because of a minor classroom coup 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.640 i'd orchestrated, I and another friend who would remain a 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.920 friend of mine for the rest of his life, found 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:09.520 ourselves in the principal's office. Our teacher, Miss mary Anne Mobley, 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.679 had left the room and put our classmate Amy Ashcraft 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.000 in charge of setting on her stool and taking names 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.800 and writing them on the chalkboard of those of us 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:24.160 she caught talking. Now, Miss Mobley hadn't been gone long 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.439 enough for a cat toilick it's behind when my old 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.480 pal Donald started talking to me. The sound of chalk 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.640 hitting the chalkboard made me look up and seeing Amy 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.600 writing Brent and Donald real pretty like girls writing on 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:38.400 the chalkboard. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:38.640 Doo. 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.160 But I hadn't been talking, not loud anyway, I was 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.439 mostly listening. But regardless, having your name on the board 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:52.199 was doomed. I knew what that meant. Miss Mobley had 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.920 warned us, get caught talking and you're headed to the office. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:58.880 Going to the office back then was the one way 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:04.680 ticket to get in your ham smoked, unless you was 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.360 buying a pencil or going home for pukin after a 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.880 wild ride on the Merry Go Round. Your fate was 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.960 sealed when you crossed the office threshold, as mine often was. 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.760 I looked at Donald, and, being a highly decorated veteran 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.920 of getting my hand smoked at the office, I said, Buddy, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.960 I ain't taking no whooping this time. I ain't done 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.680 nothing wrong much. I had been to the office on 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.160 multiple occasions for very deserving reasons, but this time I 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.800 was mostly innocent and I was taking a stand. Donald said, well, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.640 I ain't taking one neither, and that's just how easy 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:47.120 our sixth grade non violid insurrection was planned miss Mobley, 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.720 God bless her. It was her first year to teach, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:52.240 and she got. 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.320 Me and Donald in the same class. 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.720 Long story short. When the principal got the report of 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.000 mine and my coc and the spirits aleds transgressions, he 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.880 told me to assume the position and get ready for 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:09.600 three licks with his paddle. I said, no, sir, I 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.720 didn't do nothing wrong, and I'd like to call my mama. 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.360 He looked at me like I had lost my mind 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.080 and was smiling when he said, well, here, Brent, just 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.960 use my phone. I thanked him and thought to myself, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.800 jokes on you, pal. She fished to wipe that smile 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.120 off your face and clean your plow when she gets here, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.680 for you and everybody here have wronged her. 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:34.360 Baby boy. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:37.840 I called her at he work at the Warren Bank. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.400 I told her what I had just told y'all, and 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.040 she said I'll be there in just a minute. I 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.680 hung up, and Donald said I won't call my mama too. Sure, son, 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.520 go right ahead, was the principal's answer. He was smiling 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.600 even bigger. Now My mama and Donald's mama got there 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.040 at the same time. As fate would have it, they 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.160 both walked in the off and the principal said, Hi, Betty, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:03.600 sorry to get you. 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.840 Away from work. What Brent wanted you here? 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.280 He said the same thing Donald's mama. He told her 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.920 why I was there. She looked at me, and I 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.120 told her what I had been accused of, and she 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.480 looked at him and said, was he disrespectful to you 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.480 or miss Mobley? And they both said, oh, absolutely not. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.120 She looked at me and said, were you talking? And 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.440 I said no, ma'am. She was looking at me with 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:29.960 that same stare that I would later use on my 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.840 oldest daughter when I tried to set her on fire 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:37.840 with my eyes for having bad manners. The silence was deafening. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.040 She kept staring at me, and the truth came out, Yes, ma'am, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:48.040 but I was just whispering. The principal gave me three 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.880 licks with that paddle, and then my mama gave me 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.600 three more. Donald received the same fate. Now, I've told 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.840 that story a million times, but what always stuck out 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:03.320 of my mind in that situation and the countless others 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.040 that lay ahead of me along the story journey of 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.280 my education, that my mama always wanted to know first 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.760 how I'd acted toward my teachers or administrators before being 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:20.200 told what I had supposedly done. Now I forgave Amy 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.119 Ashcraft for writing my name down after a few days. 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:25.680 She was just doing what she was told to do, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.760 and I knew better. Later that same year, I read 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.360 Where the Red Fern Grows, and I brought a jar 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:34.720 from home and I set it up on my desk 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.439 and I taped a piece of paper to it that 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.440 I'd written by Brenda Kundog Fund. Amy's was the only contribution. 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.280 She dropped a quarter in there, and as she walked away, 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:49.639 I told her that if I ever had a daughter, 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.520 I would name her Amy, and she. 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:53.199 Laughed at me. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.080 Mss Mobley would teach for forty more years before retiring, 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.680 and while I was somewhat a rebellious child, she never 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.280 gave up on me. That year, the sixth grade was 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.679 a tough time for me. I was sorting through a 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.360 whole bunch of things, and it would have been easy 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.679 for her, a first year teacher, to just let me 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.879 coast along, but she didn't. She held me accountable, and 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.199 she let me know that she cared about me. I 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.679 acted like a clown in her first year teaching and 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.959 she didn't deserve that, and I never forgot it, and 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:50.520 to this day I still feel guilty about it. Last year, 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:55.840 my oldest daughter, whose name is y'all say it with me, Amy, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.960 had just started fixing hair in my hometown and called 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.440 me and said, Dad, you'll never guess who's hairy. 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:04.560 I'm scheduled to do today. 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.960 Of course I had no idea, but when she told 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.600 me it was Miss Mobley, I got a little emotional. 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.919 I hadn't seen her in over forty years, but I 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:18.760 hadn't forgotten her. I told Amy that I wanted to 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.280 pay for it, and I did over the phone. I 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.280 told her that when Miss Mobley got there, not to 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.399 say anything to her about it until she was finished 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.200 fixing her hair. Then I wanted to tell her who 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.359 her daddy was and that I loved her, and that 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:33.720 I was very thankful for her not giving. 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:34.400 Up on me that year. 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.240 Regardless of the trouble I got into, she never quit me. 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.520 That probably wasn't the first time I'd made Miss Mobley 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.720 cry through something that I had done, but it's the 0:19:51.800 --> 0:20:08.720 only one she ever deserved. In episode one twenty seven, 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.920 Know Your Trees, I briefly mentioned an incident in high 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.119 school where I took it upon myself to cram a 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.200 water wet paper towels in one end of an industrial 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:22.000 grade steel pipe that we used a practice cutting within 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.639 a satelene torch. I went to the open end, and 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.760 with that unlit torch, I released an unknown amount of 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:33.320 a satelene gas into my homemade cannon. I don't remember 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.439 where my watermelon stealing buddy was, but I'm sure it 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:41.080 was his idea to do it. Probably anyway, when I 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.280 sparked that flint striker and lit the gas, it shot 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.359 that water wet paper towels across that shop like a 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.040 shooting star. It was also so loud that the principal 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.479 heard the explosion from his office on the other end 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.439 of the school. My agri teacher, who should have been 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.200 given a medal for working in a combat zone every 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.600 day with a class full of hooligans, stepped out of 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.280 his office and said, I don't know who did it, 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:08.120 but somebody's in trouble. 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:10.280 That quote was good. 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.479 That quote was sent to me by my friend Johnny Nolan, 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.199 who listened to the podcast and reached out to me. 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.399 He was also standing in the general vicinity of me 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.800 when I did it. He and a couple of others, 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.800 along with yours truly, were standing there trying to look 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.040 innocent when the principal came running in, expecting to see 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.400 the street to tell Aviv, and focused his gaze from 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:35.199 clear across that shop on me and the boys around me. 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.200 I thought, I'm as good as dead, But no one squealed, 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.919 not a one. We all went to the office and 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.800 I fessed up. But I'm pretty sure that they all 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.360 got a few leaks as well. I know, Johnny did. 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.760 They dispatched justice back in those days with a shotgun method. 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.200 If you shoot into the covey enough, you're bound to 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.240 hit the right bird. And the ones that had no 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.200 hand in it, well, they probably got away with something 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:07.520 that sometimes, so it pretty well evens out. They called 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.160 my mama and she came up there again, and there 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:13.879 we all sat, looking like we were all waiting for 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:17.680 our turn in the electric chair. She said, come on, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.440 and we walked into the principal's office and sat down. 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:23.639 He told her that I more or less had built 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.119 a bomb and set it off in shop class, and 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:30.080 I swear to my soul. The first question she asked 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:34.280 wasn't did I kill anybody or did anybody get hurt? 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:40.399 It was you guessed it was he disrespectful. I believe 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.320 in my heart the only reason she let me live 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.240 from the sixth grade until I graduated school was because 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:51.960 of my manners. It pays to be polite and respectful. 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:02.200 I thank you all for list and those have left 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.120 reviews and shared our podcast with others. Man, we're hearing 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:13.719 from folks from all over the world England, Germany, Australia, Scotland, Finland, Norway, Africa, Japan, 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:19.200 even outer space places like California. Catch part two next 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:23.119 week and be good to one another. It really don't 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:27.400 get more country than that. Think a teacher and teachers, 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:30.760 y'all be thankful you weren't teaching in the Warren School 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:34.000 District from nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty four. 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:35.960