By Scott Coner
Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author
Life lessons have a way of staying with
us. Sometimes we forget about them, and they lay in wait until they need to be
applied. Some of my own lessons come to mind. How about the time I asked a lady
when “she was due” when she wasn’t due at all? Or what about the time I played
on the men’s baseball team at church when I had never played a game in my life.
The truth was, I didn’t know where to throw the ball, where to stand, or what
to say to cover my embarrassment. Lesson learned I guess, but it would have
been good to know that quite a few people show up to watch the game.
When
I was a little kid, my mom used to dress me in these weird outfits she called,
“sun suits.” Best that I can remember, they weren’t anything more than shorts
with a built in suspender type deal. The reason I say this, is to describe the
time I was at the corner of my grandparent's yard in Florida playing with my
match-box cars. Things seemed pretty innocent with no problems on the horizon.
Just a kid in his sun-suit imagining he was driving a miniature Mustang. I
noticed a small ant climbing along my thigh before the gates of hell opened up.
I smacked at the ant, and that must have been a distress signal for all of the
ants in Florida to bite my little boy parts in unison. There were several life
lessons to be learned that day. First of all, those strange little sun suits
are very hard to get off your body when your strapped in like a paratrooper.
Secondly, when your parts are on fire, you need to have command of the English
language so you can instruct your mom of the issue. And I would imagine another
important lesson is to not find out you have turrets syndrome in front of your
mom and both of her parents. They probably forget how cute you are. Yeah, that
day was chalked full of little lessons.
There
was another time right around the same season of my life when I was savagely
attacked by a rooster. My grandma had warned me not to be throwing rocks at the
chickens, but I have never been a great listener. So, while the grown-ups are
all inside having coffee, I found myself all alone throwing rocks at chickens
because that’s the kind of kid I was. I was a terrible human being. Anyway, as I’m
standing in the barn lot throwing rocks at the poultry, I look to my left as a
very angry rooster is viscously flapping up my fat little leg. I was terrified.
I tried to run, but the rooster was faster. I fell several times as I cried and
screamed for my terrible young life. Was there a lesson learned? Not really a
“life lesson,” but I wouldn’t throw rocks at chickens unless you’re wearing a
full set of Car-Harts and running shoes. This might apply to glass houses too,
if you happen to live in an aquarium.
As we get older,
I think it’s a natural thing to laugh at our little mistakes. We have hopefully
evolved to some degree, but there is always room for improvement. I have
learned not to play with ant- hills. I don’t throw myself into baseball games like
I’m the great Bambino. And I avoid all eye contact with full-size ladies for
fear of blurting out something insanely stupid. The thing is, I am still prone
to doing and saying things I regret. If I have learned anything, I would truly
hope I am finally smart enough not to say something that would hurt someone’s
feelings. After all, it’s absolutely fine for me to share my own mistakes and
make fun of myself. On the other hand, it’s never ok for me to hurt someone
else’s feelings either by accident or on purpose. As I’ve gotten older, I have
realized just how important every single person is in my world. Everyone I know
truly has a reason for being there. It’s almost like every person is a puzzle
piece. Many people have taught me some pretty applicable lessons in spite of
myself. The most important one? I’m not sure, but maybe we shouldn’t take
things so seriously.
Keep in touch!
Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.
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