Herding Bison

Claudine and I made a trip to the Painter Outpost located a few miles south of the Wyoming-Montana border on the eastern edge of Yellowstone Park.  We saw an incredible picture of a Bison chasing a Grisly Bear in the snow.  If you have never been face to face with these enormous creatures you have missed an understanding that is beyond words.  I asked the proprietor about the Bison and the Grisly Bear.  He told us many interesting facts.  One fact in particular caught my attention.  He said, “You can herd Bison any way that they want to go.”  The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Claudine said, “Rusty, that is exactly the way that YOU are!”  We laughed because of the precise truth in her statement.

Over the following days I gave a lot of thought to these statements and I realized that the statements represented a major principle in the lives of all creatures.  I was raised on a cattle ranch. And, since I was the most expendable member of our family I was often charged with the task of herding our Hereford Bulls from one pasture to another.  If the weather was hot, the Bulls were annoyed to begin with, and they certainly did not want to go on any long country strolls.  As I would whistle and yell to encourage them to another location they would snort, kick the ground and head butt anything that was handy to demonstrate what they could do to you.  These Hereford Bull images came to my mind as I turned the recent Bison/Claudine story over in my mind.  Quickly, the images of herding the Herford Bulls became images of me herding my two wives.  When herded, and annoyed, my wives would snort and demonstrate other aggressive behavior.  The images of my wives morphed into images of the reactions of my two boys being herded.  The visions of the actions of my two boys being herded changed into visions of me herding architects.  It just does not work to herd any creature in a direction that they do not want to go.  Herding creates resistance, resistance creates drama and drama is a very unhealthy, unproductive state of mind. 

LAWS

 

"Laws are the crystallization of community prejudices." - Ayn Rand

    "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis

            For 10 years I served on the board that directed building activities for Amarillo. As I served as Chairman, I helped create an Ordinance that would require additional cost to make homes safer. The policy in Amarillo required that each new Ordinance be approved in a Public Hearing. At the public hearing for "MY" ordinance a few local builders appeared at a hearingto protest. "MY" ordinance was soundly defeated. Why do we not go through this process for every additional law? "MY" ordinance was 90% ego driven and 10% good practice. It took time and energy for the Builders to fight this new encumbrance. They were totally right in their objections. Everyone should have a "choice" to make their homes safer.

     King Arthur's creation of the Round Table was an ambitious step in people's endeavor to create a just world. Quickly however he put himself in an untenable position because a law that he created went against human nature. The law stated that infidelity was a crime punishable by death. As grand as his intentions were, he was dictating a prejudice that he felt would never affect him personally. Here is the historic rub. As good as he was, King Arthur was a moral busybody. His best friend, Sir Lancelot fell in love with his wife Guinevere. The problem was not Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, the problem was the ill-conceived law. Should King Arthur burn his wife at the stake and kill Sir Lancelot because his two most beloved friends fell in love with each other. Love's process is not understood nor is it manageable. Insurmountable drama has been created in our world based on the faulty overreaching of omnipotent moral busybodies trying to control elements that cannot be controlled? How well did US prohibition work? All prohibition accomplished was to allow, even promote, the success of gangsters at the cost and peril of US citizens.

     I personally loved everything about the construction business that I perfected, for me, for 35 years. It became time for me to abandon my love when I realized that federal terrorists were everywhere. These (OSHA & EPA) terrorists could subjectively take everything that I had worked a lifetime for, whenever they chose to. I have personally known some of their victims. When the "probable" risk in business overwhelms the "possible" rewards from that business, the prudent man will no longer offer that service.