A willow or an oak?

Life really is like a spinning top — a child’s toy that spins upright, then as it loses energy, starts to wobble with increasing amplitude before finally tipping over and rolling on its side.

Where it lands nobody knows.

Say what?

Prior to Christmas break, I put in a couple of long work days. I knew I was going to be out of the office, but I wanted to have everything cleaned up and taken care of. I wanted a clean slate for when I came back in the new year. Of course, a day before I was to take off, I got some work news that I wasn’t expecting.

I swore at myself for not doing a better job “reading the tea-leaves.” However, for that to happen, I would’ve had to have been a modern-day Nostradamus. In any event, the news put a few of my plans up in the air. The details are not all that important, but I was still thrown off my game. I thought about not taking my vacation, but that wouldn’t have solved anything. Plus, I was tired and needed the break.

In the weeks since, I’ve tried to put the worry out of my head. I’ve succeeded some, failed other moments. I remind myself to control what I control. When I start to travel down one rabbit hole or another, I’ve reminded myself of a scene from the TV Show Yellowstone.

In the scene, cowhand Lloyd Pierce says, “You can’t teach that: toughness. You’re either born a willow or you’re born an oak. That’s all there is to it.” 

Stand for what is right?

When I saw a snip-it of the scene recently on social media, I made the connection to my current situation and remembered where I’ve heard it in the past. An old farmer — who worked his farm by day and served as a township supervisor by night — used to ask that question decades ago when I was a reporter. After one contentious meeting or another, I would ask him for a quote on whatever problem the township was trying to solve.

In his awe-shucks demeanor, he would lay out the pros and cons to whatever decision the board needed to make. He would then explain that a willow is lightweight and tends to sway in the wind. The oak meanwhile is strong, heavy, dense, and has a close grain. It’s also resistant to insects and fungi.

He’d say: “We’re either gonna be an oak and stand for what is right or we’re going to get blown away by a stiff breeze.”

Fantasy meets reality

Television and movies are not real, they’re make-believe, but I get the significance of the scene from Yellowstone to my own life. A willow? Or an oak? Here’s to putting in the hard work to be strong and determined and believing in yourself.