Out to Pasture
In the agricultural world, animals who no longer are considered useful to the farm or ranch, are said to be “put out to pasture.” It’s a simple way of saying they can live out their remaining days in peace and quiet. In other words, taking it easy.
It’s funny how we say the same thing about men who can no longer “cut the mustard.”
They recently retired, were fired, or given the excuse that the organization has decided to “go in a different direction.” Most of us have been through it. If not, more than likely, your day is coming. Employers can’t say “it’s time to put you out to pasture” or “we are going with someone younger and with fresher ideas.”
Susan had an older quarter horse named JoBo who passed away last year. JoBo hadn’t been ridden in over 20 years and had been a “pasture ornament” for us to just pet, feed and groom. But she was taken care of like she was a show horse.
Years ago, after all of us had packed away our coaching whistles, one of our associates made a sad statement about an accomplishment he had when coaching. He said: “that was back when I was somebody.” All of us jumped on him like a bunch of redbone hounds on a fallen coon. “You are STILL somebody.”
In other words, he equated his worth with his profession. As coaches, we all enjoyed our times on the sidelines or in the third base coaches’ box. BUT that did not define us. It was simply the profession we chose at the time.
Coaches at every level are NEVER ready to hang it up. Unfortunately, the list is long and sad. For every coach who went out at the right time, there are 10 more who got put out to pasture against their own will. It might not have been an outright firing but the writing was on the wall whether it had to do with health and age ( Paul Bryant) or the feeling that the program was beginning to show more cracks in the foundation. Look at college coaches like Bowden, Paterno, Hayes, Majors, Jordan, Schembechler, Holtz, Schnellenberger, Fulmer, Dye, Stallings, Brown, McKay, Switzer, Fisher, and Stoops. How many of these left the game on their own terms?
Think of men you know who have “lost” that power and go into depression or a shell, reminding everyone about what they did “when they were somebody.” Politicians might be the worst. They get and stay drunk on power and will do almost anything to get a sliver of it back. We see it daily.
Many lifetime politicians claim to be “serving the people” and that’s worthy. Too many of them have grown lazy feeding from the public trough. They found that trough at an early age and often move from position to position in the government. For many of them, if they were honest, they would tell you that once out, they miss the power more than the paycheck. When you are a public figure, getting voted out of office is transparent and a knee to the groin. In other words, the voters are ready to put them out to pasture. As the old saying goes: “politicians and dirty diapers need to be changed often for the same reason.”
Businessmen take chances every day, creating and developing tremendous companies. Many of these are worth millions which hire thousands of workers. They grew the company from the ground up, often being away from their families for extended periods of time. UNTIL a venture capitalist firm comes along and makes an offer “too good to turn down.” The money can be life-changing for a couple of generations. Outsiders are envious of the new millionaires.
This isn’t a “woe is me” comment nor a pity party.
It is staying in line with the “put out to pasture” theme. All of a sudden, the former owner doesn’t have to be at work every day. He doesn’t have power over his “baby” that he grew from infancy. He has time on his hands. He can do things with his family that he dreamed about for years.
Here’s the problem: the kids have their own lives to live and you can only play a certain number of rounds of golf or drive only one boat at a time. Too many times, these executives turn to other challenges: gambling, drinking, drugs and day trading. The idea of being “put out to pasture” eats at them.
Even though I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I am NOT a therapist (even though I have done over 1,000 of these goofy blogs.) If I WERE a therapist giving advice, it would be this:
Find your purpose. Plant it, water it, watch it grow and enjoy the harvest. You are never too old to pick up a new hobby: music, traveling, tutoring, coaching, or volunteering.
This weekend at the St. Jude Trail Ride in Tuscumbia, there will be hundreds of volunteers who may be retired but refusing to accept the “put out to pasture” label. We can use you. No volunteer has EVER been turned down. Just ask: “what do you need me for?”
There is plenty of pasture on Jimmy Gardiner’s Farm to enjoy starting Thursday.
However, NONE of his pastures can hold us in from raising half-million dollars for the kids at St. Jude. For the math-challenged, that’s $500,000.
The pasture can wait.