How Tractor Changed My Life

It’s funny how 15 minutes can change how you spend your entire summer. For instance, on a dead, cold night in winter, my father and I tried to plow the snow-covered road with our Farmall C just in case someone had an emergency. We didn’t have any wheel weights, so, needless to say, the tractor slid into a ditch. Just as we left the tractor to go home, our neighbor, Randy Wright, came along with his 150 horsepower John Deere to pull it out. I forgot about the incident until six months later, when Mr. Wright called me to help him out around the farm because he saw me on that night. Initially, I thought this job might rob me of an enjoyable summer just like any other work; however, I realized that jobs can make someone become a happier and more fulfilled person.

In the case of my job on Mr. Wright’s farm, I recall being nervous and apprehensive about driving a huge tractor baling hay on a steep hillside. However, baling hay became second nature to me over the course of two weeks, and I hence made over 300 bales by the end of the season. Yet, one doesn’t have to do farm work in order to gain confidence. For example, consider someone working at McDonald’s. While the typical workday is monotonous and boring, there is confidence gained in being able to devote one’s time to a task and be sufficient. Or consider the debilitating task of writing code for a video game level. How does the designer have that vast amount of knowledge and stamina to create the level? The answer is that the programmer gradually learned his or her skill beginning with education. Then, because of that education, the programmer practiced through trial and error and hours of practice while working for some business. Yet, even though these aforementioned tasks may seem to come solely from individual effort, their burden is actually divided among members of a