Untaught Lessons

It seems that when we face a challenge…The most important thing we try to understand are those lessons which cannot be taught in a classroom. My father only had three years of formal education beginning at the early age of five after his father died in a Pennsylvania coal mine. It was then when he and his brother were sent to the county orphanage. I have often thought about how one goes about acquiring wisdom. Then I think of my Father. He faced many adversities in his 96 years on this earth. He faced them head on like the eagle flying into the face of a storm. Through those experiences he acquired wisdom. Not certain how it works for others, but I now realize that my dad persevered even when the odds were against him. He did not win all the battles but through his strong will, when he faced those challenges head on, he could succeed. He understood that he needed to be responsible for the wellbeing of his family. Dad never wavered when it came to his responsibilities. That was his purpose, which he gladly accepted. He was kind and gentle, but he never backed down from a fight. When he spoke against the union and lost his job, he saw opportunities and found ways to earn. He beat the odds because he believed in himself and believed he could succeed. He went out on his own he did what was necessary to earn money for the family. There were occasions when he became wiser even when he did not win. Regardless of the outcome, he always learned from his experiences and shared those lessons with his children.

He wore an old beat-up watch and each morning when he jumped out of bed and slip it on his right wrist. Rain or sunshine, with much eagerness to fulfill his responsibility as head of the family, he would jump in his truck and search the countryside to gather up discarded scrap metal. He looked at his watch at the start of the day and then 10 or 12 hours later after he had finished his work. In between those two times, it was time to work, his time to take on the responsibility for the wellbeing of his family. He did not use his watch to schedule or time his daily tasks. It existed only to frame the work he expected to accomplish for the day. He could not care less about the time of day when there was work to perform or something that needed fixing. His workday would begin early and end late, but only when he had completed his work, and not by the watch on hi wrist would he return to his family to rest. Only when his work was completed.

He would awaken early because he knew it was the time to earn. No alarm clock since his body was telling him it was time to go to work. He accepted the responsibility the head of the family.
It was seldom too early to start, and it did not matter what day of the week it was. If the work could not be accomplished by end-of-day on Friday, he still had 2 days remaining to finish the job. He knew when it was time to for dinner because he heard the faint growl in his stomach and felt the emptiness in his belly. In the evening, his body would tire signaling him that it was the time to rest. Time to sleep to restore energy for tomorrow’s work.

His watch was not fancy and had a flexible band made of cheap shiny metal. Over the years the finish lost its glow and became a dull gray. It could not have cost him more than 10 or 12 dollars. I think the Timex gave out and eventually replaced by a Gruen. It did not keep very good time and the crystal was scratched and the spaces between the flexible band held dirt and remnants from the manual work he had endured over the many years of hard work. When that watch finally gave out, it was replaced by a brand-new Timex. This watch was shiny and fresh, and I would often hear him complain. “Keeps on ticking but you better make sure it has a fresh battery.” The new Timex kept on ticking for many more years just like my father. Working at manual labor until the age of 83 when he finally had accomplished all he needed to accomplish. I still have that old Timex and it stopped running a few years back through my own negligence. Needs a battery… I guess.

But the watches that my father wore on his wrist were not there to tell the time. They existed and told the story of the man. The dirt and grime served as a measure of the work he had performed to benefit his family. If we could only read the history told by the damaged bits, scratches and dirt that had attached itself to those old watches, it would tell the story of a working man’s life. Each little scratch or chip on that crystal recorded a misdirected movement of his hand which resulted in a collision of his watch with a door jam or piece of scrap metal. Those scars recorded the act of a strong hand at work. It was damage that did not affect the time of that old timepiece but was a sign of a man accomplishing a meaningful task. A man who worked with his hands to accomplish something worthwhile as the hands on the watch slowly ticked forward.

I still have the old Timex and promise one day to get it serviced and bring it back to life with a new battery. That old hunk of metal has little value to anyone outside the family. For me it is like a GPS tracking device that has recorded the many accomplishments of a man who never saw the inside of a classroom. It serves as a testimony of all my father’s accomplishments. That old Timex is no longer ticking but the fond memories of the man who placed it on his wrist each morning endures, and the lessons learned have served our family well. He never had a business plan but knew what he wanted to accomplish. He never travelled to countries afar but was worldly. He never saw the inside of a classroom but learned many untaught lessons.

From the watches that my dad wore, they tell the story of his life and shows what can be accomplished with determination and purpose. It serves as a testimony of what a person can accomplish if he uses his time wisely. Time erases our yesterdays. It only moves in a forward direction; however, a watch represents more than time; it provides a starting and ending point for what can be accomplished today, defines todays work and provides a measure of tasks that can be completed. My father’s watch taught me the true meaning of responsibility and how one can accomplish so much if he understands who he is and what he hopes to become. It demonstrates how fleeting time is and teaches us to use it wisely.

The Rolex on my left wrist influenced the path of my life’s journey but by no means diminishes the value that my father had for his watch. My Rolex altered my life’s journey but to me, the value expressed by my Father’s Timex is in some ways was equally influential. It has taught me many untaught lessons not found in the classroom and puts time in its proper perspective.