As a high-school student, I learned early that harvest and other fall activities were sometimes at odds. One fall day after football practice, I had planned to go with a friend to the John Cougar Mellencamp concert. Unfortunately, I found that my dad had called the high school and told them I had to come home instead of going to the concert. The combine had broken down and I had to milk cows while dad fixed the combine. Today, harvest and school are less at odds with each other and actually have something in common, a connection between patience and safety.
Let’s start out with some basic knowledge that may protect you from tragedy and a child from serious injury or death; stopping at school bus stop-arms. When a school bus has stopped and extends its stop-arm, you must stop. Even if you are in a rush. you still must stop. You can’t slowly drive up to the bus and go around, you just have to stop and be patient. The bus will flash yellow warning lights prior to the stopping and then extend the bus stop-arm. Drive slow when you pick-up or drop-off kids at school as well and have some patience. The slower you drive, the more time you have to avoid an accident.
Harvest has begun in the area also. I think most bins have already been cleaned for the harvest so my hope is we won’t see any grain bin deaths. The key here is to stay out of the bin and use the buddy system if you go inside the bin. Some farm accidents happen off the farm, motor vehicle accidents account for a lot of the tragedy on the farm. Farm vehicles are large and require more distance to stop and they also are more difficult to pass. The simple answer here is to give this large equipment extra space and be patient when deciding when to pass, or just don’t pass them. Invest a little time being careful and reap the rewards of coming home safely.
School safety and farm safety seem very similar to me. People die of one specific thing: a lack of patience. Drivers are in a hurry and don’t see the school bus stop-arm. A farmer can’t wait for help and instead goes into a grain bin by himself and meets with tragedy. A driver passes farm equipment on a hill instead of waiting for a safe place to pass which results in an accident.
Don’t die of impatience, it’s a long life and there’s good stuff ahead of you. Graduation is the result of a successful school year and a big harvest is the hopeful result of all that work on the farm. It’s all worth waiting for and you can miss it if you’re in a hurry.
Keep life in perspective, those little moments of impatience are traps and your own patience is sometimes your best defense.
