May 17, 2013 -Timothy Simpson
Different Childhoods
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpWfkV_rw_A?rel=0]
I grew up in suburb Kentucky. You know, the typical single story cookie cutter ranch houses that litter the landscape of America, that was my environment. My childhood was vastly different from my parents because I was a 60′s kid and they were children of the 30s, or better known as the Great Depression. My parents were raised on shoestring budgets, and so was I, except that the shoestring was a lot different in 1965 than it was in 1935.
”Papa”
My father was born into a rural family in the western part of Kentucky. He was one of three sons, his father had 12 siblings and his mother had 5 siblings. His mother’s father was called ”Papa” and he was to become one of the most respected men that I have ever heard anyone talk about. He died long before I was born, he is my great grandfather.
Papa, was a visionary farmer. He acquired land and built a empire-like farm over the span of his lifetime.
”The Hill Field”
I visited the portion of that farm that my family acquired with my father last winter. That farm is about 130 miles away from my hometown, and not a particularly easy drive, so we didn’t visit as often as we probably should. But, mostly I had been to the farm when the corn was high. The land is in a valley, it is flat as a table top, but in the middle of one field there is a hill, and from that hill, you can view the stretch of the valley, peering into neighboring farms and the ring of hills surrounding the valley. This was the first time I had ever walked to the top of that hill. I wanted to go there to actually see the lay of the land and how our property looked from up there. I had no previous feel for the whole, just an idea of it. It was a beautiful and humbling experience.
Standing on that hill in mid January, muddy shoes and all, my father and I scoped the scene. I asked him if he had farmed that land when he was a youth. I knew he had, but hadn’t quite pictured it. I said, so how was it done?
He proceeded to tell me that he would be walking behind a horse or a mule with a plow, one row at a time, cutting in to that vast field. At harvest they would collect the crop in wagons and have to remove the corn from the cob by hand. I asked him if all of this land had been plowed, planted and harvested one row at a time and he said yes. Standing on that hilltop I realized that I had never worked like that. Hands in the dirt, animals close to you, the elements of heat, cold, humidity and drought all around you. Alone in the field, plowing one row at a time in a 60 acre field.
Years of hard work and vision from one man created a legacy
I asked him how Papa put all of this together? He said he was always in debt, land poor and had to manage, inspire and out work a host of hired workers to make the farm work. All of those years of hard work and vision from one man created a legacy that exists long after he has passed, generations profiting from the prudence of his mind. All of the cousins and their children, moving all across the world, still must look back to that man and his dream.
I have worked hard at music. It is also not for the faint of heart, it takes long hours of dedication and the ability to confront criticism. But, it is possible because you love it. However, it doesn’t necessarily provide one with the desired income at the end of the day.
Learning Internet Marketing and all of this is a bit daunting to me at times, but when I think back to that afternoon on the hill field on our farm, I think about my father, his son, my grandparents and Papa and think, if they can create a legacy by plowing one row at a time behind a mule, then surely I can learn and use this brilliant system sit behind a computer a bit and talk on the phone some to create my legacy.