This Country LifeThe recent celebration of our nation’s Declaration of Independence got Brent thinking about heroes. Just what constitutes a hero? He’s gonna share his thoughts and give what he thinks is a prime example of one. If that’s not enough he’s sharing a heroic listener story and offering up suggestions to help baseball grow their audience and speed up the game. There’s a lot to unpack on this episode of MeatEater’s This Country Life podcast.
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Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves from cone hunting to trot lighting and just general country living. I want you to stay a while as I share my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the airwaves.
Haved off.
All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some stories to share Heroes. This week is a little different than our regular offerings here at This Country Life. But after celebrating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence last week, I got to thinking about all the folks that are referred to during that time as heroes. That led me to thinking about the ones referred to that now and.
Who really qualifies.
I'm gonna give you my thoughts on it, but first I'm gonna tell you a story. This story is right on theme for this week's topic and comes from This Country Life mailbag. Send in by Jesse Crawford down in Laurel Hill, Florida. That's in Okaloosa County. Laurel Hill has a distinction of being the northernmost incorporated city within the Great State of Florida. If you had a slingshot that could fling a rock fifty miles. You could stand on the beach in Destin and hum a rock due north, and have folks in Laurel Hill rubbed knots on their heads and ducking for cover, all five hundred and eighty four of them. I'd like to have me one of them. But without further delay. In Jesse Crawford's words.
In my voice, here we go.
It all started when we had a day off from school and decided to take my dad's jet ski to the lake. We were young, but old enough to be trusted to some degree, and we were taking turns running around the lake and pulling each other on the tube. It's normally a busy place for water sports, but today it was just us and one other boat. After my buddy and Night had enough, we swapped out and let the other two fellas ride and just hung out on the bank. It wasn't long before we see the jet ski headed back at a high rate of speed, and as they got closer, I realized that one of my friends that left on the jet ski was replaced by a frantic woman that was freaking out so bad you couldn't understand what she was saying. My buddy yelled for me to jump on and drive that he would explain on the trip back out. Apparently the husband was pulling his wife on a tube and she fell off. He turned to pick her up and accidentally hammered the throttle and threw himself self out, And since he didn't wear his kill switch, the boat was running circles at full throt.
So we got to try and help the.
Husband, who was being helped to stay afloat by my friend that was left when the wife that he picked up was taking the shore. And that's when I realized we had a big task because this was a very large man. No matter how hard we tried, there was just no way to get him on that jet ski. It kept flipping the three seat jet ski no matter how hard we tried to counterbalance it. Meanwhile, that boat, it's still running wide open and making circles, and that's when I realized what had to be done. We gave the husband all our life jackets because he was struggling to stay afloat. At this point, my friend jumps back on the jet ski with me and we take off after that boat. Now every two or three circles, that boat would level out and run straight for a couple hundred feet. We were terrified, but we timed it out just right and ran up beside that boat when it was going straight, and I bailed off into it. I was so overwhelmed with relieved that I actually got in the boat. I almost forgot the purpose of being there, but I took control and I headed back to where the man was still floating on.
Our life jackets.
Now, after managing to get him back in his boat, we took it and him back to shore, where his wife was being looked after by the mts that had been alerted. They started taking care of him too, and he tells us that he had just bought the boat and it was his first time taking it out, and it would probably be his last. The husband thanked us, and he tried to give us a water cash he had in his pocket, but we kept declining over and over. He tells us that if we weren't there, it would have cost him a lot more than a little cash. And he picked up a rock and he placed the money under it and tells us somebody will find it if y'all don't take it, and he left and he left one thousand dollars under that rock, which seemed like a million bucks to us kids. Anyway, that's my story, y'all, Stay safe out there. Good night, Nurse Jesse. That's some straight up mission impossible in James Bond caliber stunt work.
My friend, y'all saw a need and you took action.
Nice job, man, and according to Jesse Crawford of Laurel Hill, Florida, that's just how that happened. Heroes what constitutes or qualifies someone as a hero? To Webster says, a hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. On the other hand, it can also mean a tasty sandwich.
Now.
I hear that term thrown around a lot these days, noticeably to me more often than in times past, and it got me to wondering if we've got more heroes now than we used to, or do we just hear that term because of the information that we get bombarded with on social media.
Now.
Audie Murphy was a pint sized seventeen year old from northeast Texas, and he attempted to enlist in the US military after Japan attacked the United States in December of nineteen forty one. The Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps, all of them turned him down because he was undersized and underaged. His older sister eventually provided a falsified affidavit stating his birth date was a year earlier than it actually was, and after that he was accepted by the US Army on the thirtieth day of June in nineteen forty two. Audie Murphy was five feet five and a half inches tall and he weighed one hundred and twelve pounds when he enlisted. The M one rifle that he was issued upon graduating of basic and individual training weighed nearly a tenth of his own weight at nine and one half pounds. Murphy would fight the Germans in Europe, and over the next two and a half years, would come home as the most decorated soldier of World War II. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts, just to name a few. He was a one man wrecking crew, stacking up our nation's enemies like Cordwood to me, is the quintessential definition of a hero, and the world would be hard pressed to argue otherwise. But what if no one knew his story? What if there had been no witnesses to his feats of courage in the face of danger. After all, it was his fellow soldiers who reported his actions to their superiors, not Murphy. The acknowledgment of his actions doesn't qualify him as a hero, only his actions. He saw a need in a desperate situation, and he acted. But what about the soldiers who were with him. They did a noble and heroic thing just by being there. They all took an oath to protect and defend our nation and added up their services, including their own lives, should the task required. Are they not heroes? Well, I believe they are, along with anyone else who's before or since, who's taking that same pledge. I think we can all agree that there can be no greater measure of commitment than a person who's willing to sacrifice their life for the common good. But the definition, remember, isn't just for courage. It's also an admiration for outstanding achievement. I asked my wife Alexis, who her hero was and without hesitation, she said, oh it's you, Brent.
No, I'm kidding. She didn't say that.
She said, Oh, it's my parents, but especially my mama. I told her to tell me why, and this was her answer. She said, when she and dad got married, she quit college. Then after having two kids, she went back and finished so we could.
All have a better life. Now.
I was in elementary school when she started back to school, and it was hard on us for her being gone, But it only lasted a little while in the grand scheme of things, and I learned a valuable lesson from her. As hard as college was when I went, I had it easy compared to what she had to do being married and raising me and my sister. She is an example of determination and strength. She is my hero. Well, I couldn't agree more. Alexis Fighting off hordes of enemy soldiers single handedly is an outstanding achievement, So it was going back to college while raising a family. Jumping a five strand barboir fence and strategy is an outstanding achievement. I saw my buddy Greg Hayes do that one night when we thought a watermelon farmer was trying to kill us.
If y'all.
Remember I only jumped four out of the five, and the one I didn't make it over was the one that was the most important. Greg left me in this dust to fend for myself, but in his defense, it was the first time either of us had been shot at, and had I had the ability to jump like he did, I'd have done the same. Besides, someone had to live to go back and tell the story of what happened. But what he did was an athletic achievement. What I did was a demonstration of gravity. The real hero of that scenario was the farmer who taught us both a lesson that night, terrible shot heck of a watermelon grower, not to mention a great fence builder too. Then there are the folks like Clay Bow and I talked to a couple of weeks ago, game wardens who go to work every day to protect our wildlife. There's also other officers and agents that I've worked with over the years who eye witnessed putting themselves at risk to keep the peace and protect lives and property. But I don't place them above anyone else who sees an issue and addresses it. It just takes one person to take action and set the example that's missing from a lot of where we find ourselves today. In my opinion, take any event historic, dramatic, traumatic, or otherwise, and the majority of folks that stick around to see what happens are video and someone else getting involved with their telephones. Did the advent of the cell phone turn most into observers? There's obviously still folks getting involved in taking action, or there wouldn't be anyone to fee them doing it. But are people really much different now than back in the day. It seems like the only folks that get involved in mass these days is when two folks are fixing them mix it up on the baseball field. Opposing players start squaring up, and it looks like a stampede of players running in from every direction. They're almost always holding the two aggressors back from each other instead of just letting them duking it out and getting it over with. You know, if they'd just let that happen, maybe they wouldn't have had to put that pitch clock in to speed up the game because fans were getting bored and turning the channel. Now, if you want to garner up some interest for your ballgame, let folks think a fight could break out at any moment, a real Donnybrook and let them use whatever they're holding when it does. Folks these days will be tuning in by the droves if they think they're going to get to see some cat get drove in the ground like a tit peg with a bat. If you really want to speed the game up, give both bat boys a taser and tell them they can zap anybody they think it's taking too long. Start the game at four point thirty and you'll still be able to make it home in time for supper. Nine inn into baseball one hour, eighteen minutes. I'm just kidding about all that. Well mostly anyway. It seems like we've become a population of watchers instead of doers. And I was as guilty as anyone. I was digging around on my phone several months ago looking for some show notes. I'd take it and I swiped to a page I never paid any attention to, and there was a graph on there that showed me how much time I was spending looking at social media for the love of humanity. That was an eye opener. I tried to justify some of it in my mind because social media is a part of my job, and also I like to keep up with my family and my friends on there too, But that amount of time shown on there was ridiculous. At least in my mind. It was we don't take our eyes off on's in our hands. We're gonna miss what's going on all around us. If we miss what's going on all around us, we're gonna miss the opportunity to act when action is needed. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as pulling people from a burning building or saving a person who's falling through the ice. It could be as simple as helping someone through a door onto a curb, or just stopping to say hello. But back to the definition the hero. Another part of it was to be admired or idealized. Well, that's pretty easy for me. That's my brother t He and I have done some ridiculously dumb things together, but he always does the right thing, and I'll say it before any Well, so I'm probably the bad influence.
But he'd rather be at home than anywhere.
He likes to hear about the places I go and all, but fan's interest in actually going. If the place where the activity is more than a day's drive away. But any place he ever went that I wanted to go, he'd let me, or he'd make sure he invited me. Especially when I was young, in more of a hindrance than an asset, I always had a spot. He showed interest in me, he made time for me, and he gave me a mark to shoot for and being a good person. He's one of the best people I know, and he treats every one the same. That's something to be admired and emulated. The big question when I started way back before I mentioned Audie Murphy or had the idea yet the issue weapons to bat Boys was what constitutes a hero? Well, the answer in my mind is heroes don't have to wear uniforms of any kind or do anything amazing.
They just have to show.
Up when the opportunity arises for someone to take action for good, regardless of the situation or the consequences. If anyone is around to notice, it could be monumental and get attention worldwide, or as seemingly insignificant, it's showing compassion and being kind. Your definition may be different than mine, and you may not agree with how I look at it, and that's cool too. Society uses the term hero a lot, maybe too much these days, I don't know, But that doesn't mean it doesn't apply. That's for each person to side on their own and in their own time. Just don't take too long. You never know where one of those bat boys with a taser might be. I still think that's a good idea. It would aangxier speed the lottery ticket line up at the old convenience store. I know you want to be a millionaire and not have worked for it, But all I'm trying to do is pay for these peanut and m and ms and get on down the road. Hey have you all checked out the new Meat Eater podcast network YouTube channel yet?
Well, if you haven't, you ought to.
That reminds me of an old saying that my maternal grandpa would say whenever he heard someone say you ought to do something. Here's an example, Finus. My grandpa's name was Finus. Finus, you ought to move them cows to the back pastor before the rain. His reply would be an otter's butt that's slicker than a beaver's. No idea what that means, but if anyone does, let me know. But if anybody said he ought to do something regardless of what it was. That was his response, it's good. I like it. Also, if you have the time, leave us a review and share mine and Clay Bow Show with other folks you think that might like them. It's a good way to support us. Also, y'all have been sending in some great stories. We're reading them all in archiving them for the when the time is right, and for another project that we're working on. So y'all keep them coming. Funny stories, poignant stories, stories about the outdoors, mishaps, close calls.
They're really good. Y'all keep sending them.
That's gonna do it for me this week. Try to stay cool until next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful.
