Dave and I were in school together a long, long time ago, and even though we both were majoring in agriculture, we took very different career paths upon graduation.
While I taught for several years before becoming a full-time farmer, Dave worked his way through the ranks of business and finance and is now at the top level of his industry, working in the largest city in America.
I always liked Dave, and we have kept in contact through the years. We frequently correspond through email and a recent communication centered on that fork in the road that each of us took over 40 years ago. Dave suggested that each of us compile a journal for a day and compare the similarities (or differences) in our daily life. I agreed, and I now provide you with a portion of that comparison.
DAVE: Arose at 6 a.m., showered, dressed in business suit, and headed out for an almost two-hour commute to the office by taking two trains and the subway.
ME: Arose at 6 a.m., showered, put on a shirt, blue jeans and boots. Grabbed my old, sweat-stained cap, and took a less than two-minute walk to the machine shed, where I got in the truck.
DAVE: Stopped by a coffee shop on the walk from the subway to the office; had to get rude with some panhandlers and beggars outside the coffee shop. Same bunch every morning.
ME: Drove the truck to the quick shop to get coffee and a newspaper. All the locals try, every day, to get each other to pay for their coffee. No one ever does. Same bunch every morning.
DAVE: Started the day with a thirty-minute strategy meeting with department heads. Asked for input, and then devised some plans.
ME: Visited with the guys at the quick-shop for about thirty minutes. We solved most of the world’s problems – if the politicians would only listen to us.
DAVE: Went out on the balcony for some fresh air, mid-morning. Air quality is terrible in the city today, so didn’t stay long.
ME: Rolled down the window while checking cows and, either something died, or the neighbor is spreading poultry litter on his pasture.
DAVE: Had lunch catered in, today; too much work to take our normal lunch out.
ME: Skipped lunch today. Hay had to be raked and baled before it gets too dry; 96 degrees with blistering sun and high humidity.
DAVE: Worked late and missed my 6:00 train. Didn’t get home until 9 p.m. Wife wasn’t a happy camper.
ME: Got the hay baled about 8:30, and it was almost 9:30 before I got everything put up and made it home. Wife is used to it.
DAVE: Tried to relax out on the patio, after dinner, but couldn’t stand the noise of the sirens. Must have been a major wreck on the freeway.
ME: Sat on the back porch, after supper. Crickets and tree frogs were the only sounds I heard.
DAVE: Want to trade places for a few weeks?
I know Dave well enough to know that he earns about 20-30 times what I do in a given year, depending on weather and cattle prices. Even if I could do his job and assuming that he was capable of doing mine, I wouldn’t have the least bit of interest in trading places with him. I’m pretty sure that Dave is happy that he took his fork in the road forty years ago, and I’m absolutely certain that I did.
