Yeehaw. Okay, round two. I'm sitting here in the world headquarters of the Beef Initiative and the I Am Texas Slim Foundation.Ranchers Storefront 1505 4th AveCanyon, Texas 79015And you know what I'm looking at? I'm looking at some catastrophic winds. Some of those winds just blew through here in the Texas Panhandle and we're in the middle of the latest disastaster and of the recovery and relief efforts.And I’m here to tell you everybody is shining brightly because, you know why? It’s not because we’re so damn wind blown, it’s because…Because we are from the Texas Panhandle, we are from a pioneering spirit that gives us this voice and this stance. It gives us this fortitude and it allows me to be very proud from where I come from. Those catastrophic winds that I'm talking about are happening across this nation and in many different ways.It's coming in the form of spiritual bankruptcy, financial bankruptcy, nutritional bankruptcy and a lack of clear communication.And here we are. Listening to this ole “Cowboy Talk.” Well, this cowboy talk has seen these winds blow through more than once. And folks, I'm here to tell you…Ya’ll remember the last article and I brought up Justin Trammell of Panhandle Meats and my partner here at Rancher’s Storefront. Well, he ain't much of a talker until you get him a talkin. The one thing that gets him a talking….Do you know what? Well, there is not just one storefront, there are actually 3 and they all are possible because of the Micro-processing center he and the Trammel family built and brought to market.The WHOLE dang Trammell family.-Trammell Cattle-Panhandle Meats-Tir Bluen-Ranchers StorefrontDo you see how much of a whirlwind that is? They are on top of it. And I'm very proud to be able to be right there in the middle of it all and to be their sidekick.Especially Justin’s sidekick.He of course is the first person I shook hands with and who I asked to go on this journey with me. It was right when I got off harvest. I was in the middle of writing the Harvest of Deception. I’m going to ask yourself to ask yourself a question or two... or three…How many times do we actually hear from other people? How often does someone ask if they can have a word with you?How many times in real life does someone come up to you and reach out to shake your hand and ask you - “Would you please tell me what you do and why you do it?”Lately, when I've gone out to the burn zone and I've come across these ranchers, I can tell they have been taxed to the limit. They have a little confusion, they're a little bit suspect of this ole boy, Texas Slim.What I'm really asking everybody to do is to just… just take a pause.Because we're not selling anything here, folks. What we're trying to do is we're trying to serve. “Servant Leadership!”Everything I've ever done in my lifetime, and especially, ever since I started the Beef Initiative is that I've been able to reflect upon myself and those in which I have served and who have served me. It takes two folks. Many times in this life, a lot of people do not know how to receive. Therefore, we know how to take.A lot of people do not know how to give, they know how to serve.Many people don't know how to receive because all they do is take.When you know how to serve, you know how to receive.To receive is to serve and to serve is to receive. There's something I jotted down years ago and I'll be the first to admit. It was something that I'd written down because I needed to receive a part of me that was lost.I want to share it here:. “When people are asleep their spirits wander off. When they are awake, their bodies are like an open door, so that everything they touch becomes an entanglement. Day after day they used their minds to stir up trouble. They become both swords. Sneaky & Secretive. They are consumed with anxiety over trivial matters but remain arrogantly oblivious to the things truly worth fearing. Their words fly from their mouths like a crossbow. So sure, are they that they know right from wrong. They cling to their positions as They had sworn an oath. So sure are they a victory? Their gradual decline is all like autumn fading into winter. This is how they dwindle day by day, They drown. And what are they? You cannot make them turn back. They began to suffocate as tho sealed up in a box. This is how they decline and into insanity As their minds approach death, nothing can cause them to turn back towards the light.”Where do you think that comes from? Does it come from ole Texas Slims noggin? Or does it come from ancient times? How old are those words? They always been there? Is it something new? Is it something old? Is it something the wind blew in? What is it? It's some wisdom that I love to be able to reflect on and whenever I come out to this place, the second largest canyon in the United States And I hang my boots on the edge of the canyon. And I think about Comancheria, I think ...
