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CLAYTON RYE

By Staff | Mar 24, 2017

When the situation is right, one of my favorite things to do is simply ponder.

What do I ponder about?

Here is a simple one. Since cookies are not cooked, but baked, why aren’t they called bakies?

Shall we now go to the deep end of the pool?

Here are some deep subjects that I ponder about frequently. What is important in life? Why am I here? What am I most proud of in my life?

As I get older I see material items become less important and the people who are around me become priceless. They are my wealth.

And why am I here? Once again, it is to honor, respect, and support those people who are in my life whether I see them daily or only occasionally.

What I am most proud of in my life is that animals and little children always trusted me without hesitation. Those are the two most innocent forms of life and to be instinctively trusted by them is a privilege.

Another subject I ponder about is wouldn’t it be disappointing if when I die nobody misses me? Notice how I completely bypassed that the people who knew me would not be merely be sad about my being gone, but totally indifferent?

In the early 1970s there was a flood at a Rapid City, South Dakota campground where many people died. Around six or eight months later I heard on the news there were six people who drowned and hadn’t been identified.

I thought to myself that these people died and nobody missed them enough to ask if they might be someone they are missing.

I am hoping upon my demise that my family and friends not only miss me, but wail loudly at my funeral.

Afterwards, they can sit down for a meal of my favorite food – chili dogs – and then go home.

I said it takes a situation to be able to ponder. For me that situation requires unstructured time as in no approaching deadlines or appointments that require me to watch the clock.

Silence is necessary so there are no distractions or interruptions.

Not required, but certainly helpful, is a cup of coffee and a seat by a window in a comfortable chair. Can’t you just feel the relaxation?

Once that state of relaxation without any inhibitions is reached, thoughts and memories will come from places that I probably haven’t thought about in years.

That is when it is really good and I have reached maximum ponder.

Thoughts and feelings almost take residence in my head as I reflect on them. And they lead to places that I didn’t know I was going.

With pondering you don’t have to reach a conclusion, just thinking about it for a while can be enough.

And giving it a rest means I can return again at future time.

There are some thoughts that need to marinate or to simmer slowly in their own juices.

A decision or conclusion made in haste may not be the right one. Extra time allows for modifications and revisions, maybe even verification.

There is an answer, just not today.

So, there you have my opinion on pondering and I hope it has given you something to ponder about.

Now shut off any noise around you, find a comfortable chair near a window, clear your mind, pour a cup of coffee, and while you are at it, enjoy a bakie.

Rye is a Farm News staff writer and farmer from Hanlontown. Reach him by e-mail at crye@wctatel.net.