THE RIGHT THING
The Right Thing is a Repost from the summer of 2011. I’d forgotten all about it till my dear friend Hazel reminded me of it. Thanks, Hazel.
“Go ahead, Bobby… Do it! Hurry up he’s suffering… SHOOT!!!” He urged his little brother. The little brother stood there with their grandpa’s shotgun in his shaking hands, the barrels with a dead bead on the villain; the hole diggin’ ground hog.
The groundhog was wounded in the trap, but not dead yet. “I can’t do it,” Bobby finally said with a hint of water in his eyes. He pushed the gun into his big brother’s arms.
“That’s okay, I’ll do it,” Dean pointed toward the suffering rodent and squeezed the trigger. “Well, he’s done diggin’ holes in the cow’s pasture I guess,” Dean mumbled.
As they walked back to the house to show their grandpa the cattle leg breaking villain, a somber older brother asked his little brother, who had volunteered for the job of executioner, why he didn’t pull the trigger.
“I just couldn’t,” Bobby explained, ”He was lookin’ at me with those eyes and I just couldn’t kill em’.”
Dean chose that setting to offer his little brother, 2 1/2 years his junior, a life lesson he was still learning himself as little more than a child. “Sometimes it’s not easy to do the right thing. Hard to know what’s right,” he said.
Bobby just nodded with a straight ahead sullen face. The laughing, joking, and planning about how he was going to be the trigger man to that cow killing varmint were completely done.
There was no joy in killing. It was only for necessity and as a last resort. Fighting had the same ground rules in our household as kids, but that rule was broken more than once.
The discipline of principles and character while difficult, define a person. The opposite of the principled person is the one who allows strictly emotions to guide their life. How we feel about certain issues should not always determine the decisions we make. The principles that guide our life should be the determining factors of a decision and action.
We see a society now that bases all their decisions on how they “feel,” without the foundation of principles as defined from a Biblical perspective. We have a society of soft individuals wishing to live in peace and harmony… A great idea within the confines of human nature, an impossibility in a fallen world.
I can’t remember seeing my oldest brother Dean over the last fifteen years more than 3 or 4 times without his dog Teddy, whom he called Ted. When Teddy was at the end of his life and the cancer had all but finished him, Dean had a decision to make. Would he take Ted to a hospital, which was the only thing that heeler feared, or would he take one more trip to the desert?
I’d love to be able to say that Dean took Ted for one more ride to their desert retreat. That he sniffed the creosote bush against a clean, clear, dry desert night air. I’d like to think Dean would let the dust settle after pulling to a stop. He would look over at his old faithful companion with sorrow only known to a man and a dog that spent virtually every waking hour together over a decade and a half.
Dean would get out of the truck and go to the passenger seat where his best friend usually rode.
“C-mon Ted!” I can hear him say. He’d pet Ted one more time…
“Good boy Ted,” he’d whisper one more time… As he was patting Ted’s side, I can picture Dean reach into his back pocket, take out his pistol with Ted looking out at the desert night air and end his suffering.
If my brother would have been on his farm in Texas, that’s how it would have gone down. Or if Ted could have walked… My brother told me it was harder to have Ted in his lap with his arms holding his old friend while sitting in their pickup truck, as the doctor gave Ted a shot…
I can almost hear my big brother say, “Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing… Hard to know what’s right”…
I knew my brother would do the hardest thing…
That’s almost always the right answer…
Lisa notes
Sunday, July 30, 2017 @ 12:16 pm
I agree with your brother:
“I can almost hear my big brother say, “Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing… Hard to know what’s right”…”
And I agree with you as well:
“That’s almost always the right answer.”
May I remember in this coming week to not shy away from the hard things! Thanks, Floyd.
Hazel Moon
Sunday, July 30, 2017 @ 7:00 pm
Often the right thing is the hard thing in life . . . So many challenges that we know we should do, but the choice is difficult. This post brought back many memories – some recent and others from my childhood. I must have been 8 or 9 years old and my sweet black cat had some how contacted distemper. Dad let me know the kindest thing we could do was to let Blackie go. He went somewhere and purchased some chloroform and soaked a rag with it. I sat on the bottom steps of the back porch as he gently placed Blackie and the rag under an old wash tub and put towels around the edges. He sat with me on the steps and I think we both cried, at least I know I did. Soon, he lifted the tub and took limp Blackie out to a burial place in our yard. Some times you just have to do the hard thing and give permission for that loved one to go.
Pam
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 2:46 am
The right thing to do is almost always the hardest thing to do–a truth I wholeheartedly wish I could say I always followed. Great story, Floyd.
Martha Orlando
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 5:16 am
Doing the right thing can involve hard choices. But your story here sheds so much light and truth on why we must not let feelings and emotions rule the day.
Blessings, Floyd!
Dikkon
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 6:28 am
I’m glad you brought back this piece for those who were unfamiliar with it, Floyd. It’s nicely done and with deep feeling. Thank you!
Betty Draper
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 10:40 am
As much as we hate doing the hardest thing we cannot have the character of God without it. He did the hardest thing for us. This post hit home because our son and family who we share a house with have had put down a little puppy he bought on line. About three weeks after they got him the puppy got sick, real sick. Dr. said it was autoimmune disease and he would always be sick and in pain. So…well they chose the hard thing. This trial came on them about three months after they lost their dog of seven years. Our two grandchildren 6 and 8 wailed when their first dog died, so sad. Life does go on after the hard times and hopefully we have more compassion for others after we have suffered through our own. As always your post pack a truth that helps all who read it. Thanks.
June
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 11:38 am
Your groundhog story reminded me of my dad. He hated killing anything. One day we came home and saw that one of the barn cats had been hit by a car and was dragging itself up the driveway. Dad knew he had to get the shotgun, but he didn’t like doing it one bit. Even going after the foxes that raided the hen house – he had to get himself mad enough to do it.
Your underlying point is spot on, brother. There are few today who are forced to do the hard thing, let alone the right thing. All in all, it’s doing our youth and our ultimately our country a disservice that will have lasting results. Still waiting for the hummer photos 🙂 have a blessed week!
Bill (cycleguy)
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 12:21 pm
I’ve not had to do that to a pet. Mine were either killed on the highway in front of our house or we didn’t keep ’em. Mom would get too attached and that was all she wrote. My one claim to fame was rescuing a dog I found at the baseball field one night, bringing him home and pleading to keep him, taking care of him and then going off to college. He was excited when I came home for a few trips then there was the day I knew she was “hers.” Mom had stolen her from me! 🙂 But I have also stood at the casket of some who were hard to see go, but knew I had to. Praise God for eternal life!
saleslady371
Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 4:27 pm
This good story teaches me a great lesson. It’s hard to know sometimes what the right thing to do is. Just today, I shared with a friend how hard it is to know when to speak and when to refrain. I’m grateful for the ever near counselor at my side, the Holy Spirit, or I would botch it up much more than I already do.
Cheryl
Tuesday, August 1, 2017 @ 6:33 am
Oh, boy, did this post hit a nerve today. I am SO thankful you reposted it. I missed it the last time around. There is so much truth in this, and I needed to hear it. Thank you so much for the encouragement you are to me and so many others, brother.