There is a trade off to everything in life. We are constantly making choices that have benefits and downsides to them, each and every one. Now granted sometimes the downsides are so great and the benefits so low (or vice versa) that we can make an easy choice but regardless there is always something good and bad that could/does come from each and every choice that we make.
So it makes sense that the clearer that we can see and the more wisdom we can bring to a decision to more likely that we’ll be able to make a decision that works in our benefit. Not to say you should get caught up in never making a decision, decisiveness is a good trait to have, but that’s beyond our discussion here and I’m starting to get off topic. The trouble with making decisions is that we can never see all the good or all the bad that may come from it and even more than that we may be misled about things.
Meaning that we can be told that there is good that’s there that isn’t or we can be told that there’s bad there that isn’t, and so on and so forth. Which brings me to the title of this piece “Where Corn Don’t Grow”. I want to share with you a part of my own life and something that it took my a very long time to learn but that I wish I had learned a while back.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
But anyways the title comes from an old song by Waylon Jennings (think Travis Tritt has the more popular version) called “Where Corn Don’t Grow” and it was a song I heard a long time ago but didn’t really get the significance of (at least in my own life) until recently. You can find the song on YouTube if you want, if you like old American country music you’ll like it, if you don’t then you won’t. That’s not what’s important what’s important is the topic of the song.
The song is discussion between and a father and a son living on a farm. The son asks his father is he ever thought about living in a place where “corn don’t grow” meaning where things are big and happening, where there’s money, and fame, and loose women (well more loose women) and this and that. And so on and so forth. And the dad responding that maybe those things aren’t all they’re cracked up to be and maybe you’d be wiser to take another route…but you’ll find out for yourself.
Obviously it’s said in a more poetical way but that’s the gist of it. Essential the core “argument” of the father is that sure corn don’t grow there. Sure there’s bright lights, and fancy things, and all these things that the world and those that control it have convinced you is so grand and mighty and wonderful but there’s a lot they’re not telling you as well. There’s a lot of bad things there as well. In some ways the father also feels disappointed because the son doesn’t have the wisdom to know this in him and so has to find it out on his own.
The Weeds Are High
The song puts this (with the father talking to the son) “You may change your mind because the weeds are high, where corn don’t grow”. Pretty poetical, more poetical than 90% of the crap that has passed for poetry in modern times. Meaning that where the corn don’t grow is where the weeds grow high. So you may see the flash and the pretty gilded lies but not the rotting truth that lies underneath the thin veneer outside.
For me personally this was thinking a small town was dumb, going to the city, and a great many other places and after it all (after seeing the truth of many things, many things that most never do. Not that I’m smart or anything, just look more.) realized how worthless so much of it was, is, and always will be. Granted like most truth and like the father in the song thought most will have to figure this truth out for themselves in time, though some never will.
We don’t always see the consequences of our choices. In our modern world shit is passed off as gold, granted this has always happened but it could be at least contained to certain countries/cities/etc. Now it’s worldwide and spreading, seeping into everyone’s consciousness. Understanding the difference between shit and what is good is a critical skill. Not all that glitters is gold is just one ounce of the tons of wisdom that we have lost through the ages.
Corn Or Weeds With Gold Veneer
Separating the wheat from the chaff, whatever you want to call it the principle remains the same. Understanding the truth and separating it from the lies. Anyways thought I’d talk about something a little different and give you something to think about. Is what you’re chasing truly gold? Or does it only glitter as such? Take time to think about it and figure it out. Because as far I can see we only get one go through in this life, so we might as well make it worthwhile.
