“I would rather have one of him as to have two of…”
Just the other day a friend of mine was talking about a fellow he knew, years ago, that had made a strong and lasting impression on him. My friend said that when he was but a lad he was often in the company of this older fellow that was noted by folks, all around, to be a very optimistic and positive person. This older fellow always seemed to look for the good in any and all people and situations. He would try to get others to do that as well. When most folks would be saying, “Ain’t it awful”, he would say something like, “Yeah, it’s bad, but it’s going to get better.” If/when a person was struggling as the result of an illness, or because of the consequences of a bad decision they (or someone else) had made, he would always say, ”You just watch. There’ll be some good come out of this. You can mark my words on it and see it I’m not telling the truth.” And, when someone seemed to not be able to do things that would help them get ahead (regardless of the reasons), he would always encourage folks to just be patient, to give them some more time, and see if the person could get things turned around and headed in a better direction.
My friend said there was a man in the community that had a bad reputation. It seems as though this fellow was known as a “no account” by most of the folks in the community. He was lazy. Most of the time he was dirty; and, smelled of old sweat and dribbled tobacco juice. He could not/would not hold on to a job; if he even bothered to get one. He enjoyed pulling the cork out of the bottle, often. Reportedly, he had the tendency to prowl and other folks seemed to end up missing things as a result of his prowling. He was given to having a very “foul mouth”, with most sentences well coated with curse words. He had a wife, but was known to not be very kind to her. There were some children in the family; thankfully, the neighbors helped to provide suitable clothes and occasional gifts at Christmas time. This fellow could often be heard yelling and swearing at his children. In addition, the man had some hunting dogs that he had often been seen mistreating. He was not a very good person.
Well, anyway, my friend said that one day my friend’s father was talking to the older fellow when the subject of the “no account” came up. It seems as though there were several folks involved in the conversation at the time. So, everybody was really talking bad about the “no account”. Evidentially, some new something had happened involving the man (or his family); thus, he was the subject. My friend said one of the folks turned to the older fellow and said something like, “Well, what do you think of him?” When that question was posed to the older fellow everyone else grew quiet in order to hear his response. Surely, everyone thought, the older fellow would have to say something negative. Surely, there was nothing good and positive the older fellow could say. According to my friend’s father, as relayed by my friend, the older fellow paused for a few seconds before responding. Finally, he looked at the assembled crowd and said, “I reckon I would rather have one of him as to have two”. Thus, the conversation ended as the older fellow walked away.
I am grateful to my friend for telling me that story. My world needs more positive and optimistic people in it. It would be a good thing if I spent more time looking and working for good results and less time saying, “Ain’t it awful” and spreading dread, fear, and pessimism. I need to be a better me.