Doing something

Darren Olsen, Editor, Progressive Hay Grower

Last month, I received a phone call I wasn’t expecting to receive. It came from Valarie Furtado, longtime friend and companion of Taylor Stack, letting me know Taylor had passed away unexpectedly. For those who have been reading this magazine for awhile, you understand the importance Taylor has played in helping hay transportation throughout the U.S. from becoming a disastrous nightmare.

Through his individual efforts, combined with the assistance of many parties and agencies, Taylor was able to make a difference. It is something for which we will all be grateful for a long time to come. I consider it an honor to have been part of his circle of influence, and my personal condolences go out to Taylor’s family and friends.

With that said, I am going to change the focus of my editorial from its original design. When I first started to form the threads of this writing, it was going to focus on the political events of our day. I still will, but in a different light.

I, like many of you, have been bombarded with an onslaught of political rhetoric that seems to have no end. I have seen many sides of varying political debates flash about with pundits and prose, promises and panelists, playbooks and passion. Every word is analyzed, every movement reviewed, every speech praised and discredited.

Honestly, it’s getting old, and I am growing tired of the whole thing. That scares me. The reason it scares me is my understanding that these feelings are leading me down the path of apathy. It’s a broad and easy path, filled with the tired, the frustrated, the overburdened and the victimized. It lies waiting for anyone who wishes to set forth on an easier-sloping journey of disenfranchisement and disregard. Its byways and bastions are strewn with those, while not harboring the anger and frustration of an assumed wrong, who simply allow the tide of malcontent to wash them into indecision, inactivity and inability.

Whew – you would think I was writing for our manure publication with that last paragraph, but I phrased it that way to make a point. Too many times we are simply lulled into inactivity because we just feel it is too much to deal with (like fully comprehending those last few sentences). We are inundated every day with bad news, bad ideas and a feeling that there is nothing we can do about it. It is just easier to succumb than succeed.

I know that feeling and will heartily admit it enters my thoughts more often than I ever thought it would. But, that is where the Taylor Stacks of this world come in. Without any help or legal background, Taylor took on the federal government to fix a problem. When I sit down and look at what he accomplished before leaving this world too soon, I realize most people would have looked at that uphill road and not done a thing. And that is sad.

When we were younger, few things stood in the way of our dreams and ideas. We were happy, contented and didn’t worry too much about what others thought. But on our ascent to adulthood, we lost some of that along the way. I can’t tell you exactly why, but that spirit allowed us to climb to the top of the haystack when Mom said we shouldn’t or swing high enough from the rope in the old tree so we could touch the tips of the branches with our toes.

Are we too put out to write our congressman when we don’t like what is going on in Washington? Are we too tired of the wrangling to show up on election day? Over half of the voting population will be. Will you be among them, or will you get up and do something? I know Taylor would do something because he did do something, something that will continue to reach beyond himself. I just hope that when we get those feelings of apathy and frustration we move ahead, make a difference or, more simply, just do something. HG