Originally posted May 1, 2017
Well, tough day at the trial. There was nothing dreadful, just not how I envisioned it.
Vaider was on the muscle so we missed our fetch panels and our drive lines were all over. Chuck ran very tight on his outrun shifting the sheep before he should have. He had to go back to set out to pick one up off the pens; as he did this it broke around and into the bush. I called his run.
The good:
I watched the sheep being set for Vaiders run. The sheep scattered around three times before they got to the setout point. Vaider picked them up and he never let them try him. He handled them so there was no indication of them being a tough set other them they were a little squirrely.
Chuck had a bad manager who should have opened his outrun before he got to the sheep. That being said: When I called Chucks run, he came off and then I was able to set him onto the other sheep and drive them over to the exhaust pen and again call him off those sheep. All this leaving me with the impression that had his manager done his job the run might have been saved. We will not name, names of the manager for fear of publicly shaming him!
And then we come to the point:
On the way to the trial we had a large stone thrown at the windshield doing an impressive amount of damage to it. As the day progressed the line “sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.”
I kept thinking, I wish I was the windshield. I then got to thinking, No, I really don’t want to be the windshield. I look at our windshield and realize that is needs to be replaced and not one will think of it one way of the other. I think of the rock, and yes it did an impressive amount of damage but, the rock is a problem and something to be avoided. I then remembered as a kid I was always amazed at the way different bugs would smash into the windshield leaving a unique mark. I would spend miles looking at the different splatters from different types of bugs (I actually still do this). The trial today made me realize; I want to be the bug.
Why the bug:
Well it really comes down to how we handle disappointment. If we are the rock, we leave an impression but it is an annoyance to the people around us and is rarely good. If we are the windshield, we may hold our tongue but we are discarded in a heap. If we are the bug, we get to show the people around us the beauty that can be found in everything. We get a chance to show others the joy we find in working good dogs and livestock not just in winning.
Today I tried hard to be the windshield. I really should have tried to be the bug. If I was the bug, I could allow myself to be amazed at the spectacular things my dogs do even when it does not go as I plan. If I could be the bug, it would be easier for me to be a happy man (which would make my wife happier). If I could be the bug, I would not make people uncomfortable when I am really trying hard not to make them uncomfortable (the windshield does not seem happy, maybe a little mopey). If I could be the bug I could amaze and thrill people with my spectacular crashes as well as when I avoid the crashes.
Yes, I want to be the bug.
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