LEARNING THINGS THE HARD WAY

 

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.”

~Vernon Law~

 

I really have been a blessed soul. I need to stop often and give thanks for the many, many blessings I have been privileged with over the years of my life. I grew up with a wonderful family. I had parents and grandparents that genuinely loved me, protected me, taught me and cared for me. Should I ever be so blessed with enough time and still functioning memory I could write books upon books about each of them.

 

I talk about them often and like to share those memories, and somehow, today, I’m remembering just how wise they were to let me learn in ways that even went beyond love, care and protection. You all know what I’m talking about. The older we get, the better we understand it. Some things just have to be learned the hard way.

 

Learning things the hard way usually results from being a stubborn know-it-all, but sometimes it simply comes from trial and error borne of necessity. Just a few short years ago we experienced the COVID-19 pandemic; a widespread novel virus which had the whole world stumped as to how we should deal with it. We truly were “flying by the seat of our pants” despite competing authorities having jurisdiction providing direction for us, some right, some….well, not so right. After much trial and error we certainly learned some lessons the hard way, and I recall writing about it in this forum.

 

I’m certainly no prophet, but I said then that we would come out of that period smarter and better than ever before, and I firmly believe that we’ve done that. Handling that virus was kind of like handling a feral cat. As one of my favorite writers of all time once said:

 

            “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”

~Mark Twain~

 

In our line of work, meaning of course the senior living business and the various levels of healthcare that are joined to it, there is little room for trial and error. We need to rely upon the experience and expertise of those who came before us, with proven methods and techniques that provide the highest level of expectation for success. We have terrific educational programs from which to sharpen our skills, and numerous opportunities to put those skills into practice. But we’ll never reach the point where we know it all, and are certain to find ourselves in a place of uncertainty. Hopefully, if we’ve learned well, we will recognize and avoid the unpleasant results of transporting that cat by the tail.

 

Paul explained to the church in Rome that “all things work together for good to those that love the Lord….” (Romans 8:28), so I’m persuaded that lessons learned the hard way will most often bring about good results in the end. Those cat scratches will heal, as will all the other bumps and bruises that come with those lessons learned the hard way. We get older, we become wiser, and we end up “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:17).

 

Let’s praise God and thank him for all these lessons learned, particularly those we learned the hard way.

 

Kirkland A. Mason, CEO