Are you pulling your weight today?
Growing up we had to work as a team to get just about everything we
needed to get done around our house.
Most of it had to do with manual labor.
Often we’d forget that if we failed to work as a team, we'd end up having to work
harder and probably longer than necessary.
On one occasion we were trying to repair an irrigating canal that originated
from a small creek at the edge of our property and flowed onto our land
- giving life to our apple and pecan trees.
My brothers and I kept arguing as to how to line up, who would pass
the rocks over to whom, the line up, even how fast to heave the rocks to one
another or how big a rock to use.
More importantly no one wanted to be the one to dig them out of the creek bed.
My Viejita watched us from a distance for a few minutes and then when she
saw we weren't making progress came over to where we were.
This is when she told us about Don Arnoldo, the old rancher that lived at the
edge of our village.
One day a man who was selling pots and pans came through Bacerac.
He had taken a wrong turn as he came around the bend into the far East entrance
of town and ended up in a ditch.
In his truck went... with mud, pots and pans flying everywhere.
Even though he was not injured, his truck and all of his pots and pans were stuck
deep in the mud.
Fortunately, there was old Don Arnoldo’s house nearby, so the man walked towards
it for help.
"Panchita”, Don Arnold said proudly… “she can pull your truck from that ditch,"
as he pointed towards his old brown Mule which was in the field grazing.
The pots and pans salesman looked towards the old skinny brown Mule,
and then looked back at the old farmer in disbelief.
Don Arnoldo who was old and deaf kept repeating himself,
"Yes, my dear Panchita can certainly pull your truck out of there."
The salesman thought for a few seconds and after looking over at his truck
he realized he had nothing to lose.
So the two men walked over to Panchita and put a harness on her.
Together the three walked over towards the truck.
There it was almost on its side, half buried in mud in the big ditch.
Several pots and pans were scattered all over to the ground.
Some were stuck with only the handles sticking out of the mud.
Don Arnoldo took off his shoes and pulled up his pant legs and walked
right into the muddy ditch to hook Panchita’s harness to the truck.
He then walked back out and went over to Panchita and with a click of the reins,
Don Arnoldo started to yell, "Vamos Pedro! Pull Juan!
You can do it Tacho! That’s it, GO!! Panchita!"
And lo and behold the old Mule started to tug and pull...
and inch by inch she began to pull the truck right through the mud,
and out of the ditch.
The salesman couldn't believe his eyes - he was shocked at what the old
mule had just done.
He couldn't stop thanking the old farmer and then he quickly went over,
and gave a tender hug on Panchita's neck.
He then asked Don Arnoldo, "Why were you shouting all those names
to Panchita?"
The farmer smiled and said, "Well Panchita is a little blind just like me,
and can’t see very well."
"But as long as she feels as if she is a part of a team, she doesn’t care that
she has to pull her weight."
We got her message and we all began to pull our weight and soon we were
finished and on our way back to the house for some homemade caldo de res.
Make sure you're pulling your weight today!
Go to HOPEforHAITInow.org or text GIVE to 50555 or you can also
text HAITI to 90999 if you haven't already and $10.00 will be charged to your
phone bill with your donation going to the Red Cross.
