A new old adage

I watched Little House on the Prairie today. There was one line in the show that caught my attention. It was profound without being preachy the way Little House characters can often be. Maybe because it was uttered by guest star Burl Ives instead of the usual goody-goody characters.

Mr. Ives played a crotchy old trapper, Sam Shelby, who had been blind for 5 years. For those 5 years he had stayed in his cabin, venturing forth only as far as the front yard or the outhouse. (That's what he said.)

Trapper Shelby had to get out of his comfort zone to help Laura save Pa. At first, he raved and ranted and refused to go, but nobody can really say no to Laura when she has to save Pa. After Shelby and Laura had crossed the mountain, fell over a downed tree, and waded two creeks, they found Mr. Edwards who fetched the doctor. While the doctor was doing his thing, the old coot was praying that God would help Laura by not letting her Pa die.

He had prayed for years that God would let him see again, but now he had something more important to pray about and he thought God should listen to him. He said, "I got off my butt and tried."

"I got off my butt and tried."

I'm going to have to embroider that one on a pillow.