Thoroughness

      We had a neighbor to the North of us named Luther Crawford. One day, when I was 9 years old, he walked over to where I was working with Daddy and asked me if I would clean out his chicken house. He didn’t say anything about what he was going to pay me to do it, but I thought maybe he would give me a dime. I said, “Sure, I’ll clean it out.”

     I was excited to get the chance to possibly earn some pocket money. As soon as Daddy let me go, I headed over to Luther’s hen house and got busy with a shovel and rake. I shoveled the chicken litter into buckets, carried them to Luther’s garden, and dumped them. I could only carry one bucketful at a time. I can’t tell you how many buckets and trips it took me to get it all cleaned out, but every now and then, it would cross my mind, “I hope he gives me a dime.”

     The hen house was about 10’ by 15’, and I guess it took me half a day. I kept going until every crumb was shoveled out of that hen house. When I finally got the last bucket dumped, I found Luther and told him I was done. I was still hoping he would give me a dime. I stood and waited while he looked the chicken house over. I watched him reach in his pocket and pull out a 50 cent piece and give it to me! To my knowledge, that was the first work that I had ever gotten paid for. I was not only surprised, but very thankful that he thought that much of my work. I took it home and showed it to my folks. I kept thinking he must have really been pleased with my work to have given me a 50 cent piece. That encouraged me even more to work hard and be thorough with every job I had. That’s true whether you work on the farm or “work out” somewhere else. The discipline is the same.

Life Lesson: When you are assigned to do something, you’d better give it all you’ve got.

Thoroughness: Carrying out each task in preparation for inspection and approval.