Meaning of sleeping well when the wind blows

I’VE BEEN THINKING

Carol Goodman Heizer is an author who moved to Hood County from Louisville, Kentucky in 2019. She has had short stories and articles published in six editions of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Her column for the Hood County News will appear every two weeks. She was a public school teacher for 17 years, earlier in her professional career.

A sturdy young man asked a farmer for a position as a farm hand and, although the strapping young man exhibited energy and strength, he appeared to be lacking a sense of security and confidence.

What can you do?” asked the farmer.

“Anything that needs to be done, sir. I can sleep well when the wind blows.”

The farmer did not understand what the young man meant by his comment, but he decided to let the matter pass for the time being. The young man was wanting work, and the farmer hired him.

A few weeks later, a terrible storm awakened the farmer. He rushed to the young man’s sleeping quarters and tried unsuccessfully to awaken him. When the farmer could not arouse his workers, he anxiously went to check on things for himself to ensure his animals and possessions would survive the weather onslaught.

To the old farmer’s amazement, he found the barn had been locked, the chicken coop had been properly secured, and a wagonload of hay was securely covered with a tarpaulin. As he searched his property for other matters that might need attention in order to withstand the storm, the farmer was pleased to discover that nothing had been left to chance.

Then he understood what the young man meant when he said, “I can sleep well when the wind blows.” The young farm hand, though young in body, yet wise beyond his years, realized that before beginning a project, he must prepare carefully. Thus, we must always bear in mind that the prepared person more frequently succeeds while the unprepared person fails.

Yet many times we begin an endeavor and realize we are not fully prepared. But we believe that somehow circumstances will merely “work out” as they ought. Without preparation, we cannot have a sense of direction; without a sense of direction, we will not have a goal; and without a goal, we will not know when we have that which we strived for at the beginning of our journey.

We frequently joke about “building our plane as we fly it.” In some instances, that is necessary. But does it happen more frequently than it should? Do we leave things to chance for which we should have prepared?

Do we increase the stress and frustration for ourselves by not allowing time for adequate forethought? Do we increase our chance of failure by not allowing consideration for the possible obstacles we may encounter?                                                                                                           

Are we preparing the younger people in our world to realize the truth of “sleeping well when the wind blows” by allowing them to suffer the consequences of not adequately preparing for situations they encounter?

Or are we always coming to their rescue by bailing them out of difficult situations? By doing this, we sadly are keeping them from learning the valuable lesson that choices yield consequences. They will never learn that wise choices bring good consequences – and that poor choices usually bring undesired or terrible consequences.

Perhaps we should wisely remember the old adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a whole pound of cure.”                

At the beginning of each new school year (as a teacher), I would write the following on the front board and leave it there for the first six weeks:

“You are free to make choices; you are not free to escape the consequences of those choices.” Several students over the following years commented that they had remembered that advice. Perhaps I saved some of them from unnecessary hurt or failure.

cgheizer@gmail.com