Iowa Specialty Hospital

The Brief by Reagan

June 15, 2020

I have written this article several times. It seems to be highly political and preachy each time I write it. I’m really trying to avoid that. Instead I have decided to write a funny parable. I hope it is a welcomed reprieve. 

For those of you that don’t know I grew up in this area. This is where I had my first jobs and learned what it meant to work for a living. My brother Adam, his friend Joe, and myself worked for Nelson Farms. We worked specifically for Dave and Sue Nelson, I’m telling you; you cannot find better people. They knew we were kids and as long the work got done a little mischief or horsing around was part of the deal. 

My brother was gone, at one of his seventy two college visits, and Joe and I were walking a soy bean field pulling corn stalks. We found that if you grab the leaves and throw them they’re pretty accurate, almost like darts, but hurt more. I remember Joe hit me, hard, with one so I waited for him to pick his next corn stalk and threw even harder. It landed with some force, he dropped. 

I ran over as he rolled around in the bean field. I remember telling him to lay still as he was rolling on the soy beans and I didn’t want to get in trouble. It didn’t help; he rolled and complained for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally he got up and went back to the house and I finished the field. 

I had repaid the debt and one upped him with my throw, but in the end created a lot more work for myself and lost my entertainment in the process. To quote a movie, turns out “The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.” I have never lived that throw down and we still joke about it to this day and Joe rolling in the bean field. 

Our actions have consequences and luckily for me that one resulted in a great story we joke about. As we move forward in these uncertain times what we do and say have consequences. How we treat each other has consequences. I am fortunate to work in a place where we put people first. If we can all do that at work and at home the world will be a better place. 

If we lose our love and self-respect and respect for each other, this is how we will finally die.     

Maya Angelou

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