Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Outcome Always More Important Than Pace

The fast and slow of it is about the same as the long and short of it.

Depending on the situation, one is not always better than the other. We’ve thought that for considerable time, and of all places to be reminded of it was Sunday morning on the right hand aisle pew third row from the front.


Our genre has generally been hyper, but there are those who consider us a deadbeat. So, to get out of the guilty realm, we admit that sometimes we don’t feel like doing   much except loafing, and do just that. Yet, when we do get our mind really set on something, we go “hell bent for election,” as we talk louder, faster and often without regard.

Those who have never been to a livestock judging event, such as a fair or the like, probably can’t appreciate our commentary completely. However, slow judges really take away from the outward appeal of a competition. We’ve judged a number of livestock species, but most of our experience has been with horses.

We’ve exhibited under, watched and evaluated with fast judges, slow judges and those who go at a pace in-between. Nobody likes bad judges, and some folks think if they don’t win, the judge is bad. That’s definitely not true. Yet, there are those who
often seem to have little clue what they’re doing, or they make more than their
share of mistakes.

There are those who’d put us in that category, and we have made errors. It is a personal opinion, but hopefully we’re correct most of the time. Of course, it’s best to   be fast and right all of the time, and it’s not bad to be slow and correct. However, frequently, those who deliberate too long often come up with the wrong decision.

They over-evaluate, become nit-picky on certain points and overlook the whole picture, common sense and natural intuition. Consequently, we’ve concluded,“It’s better to judge fast and wrong, than judge slow and still be wrong.”Therefore, almost without exception we go at a rapid pace, mark our card, forget that class and go to the
next.

In life, we want to move at a progressive gait, make the right decision and not look back. There’s nothing we can do about the past, other than learn from our error, and
hopefully not make the same one again. We always attempt to do better the next time.

That is the long and short it, but we must do something. The sermon made emphasis that it’s always better to act than not do anything. Prayer can be long and detailed, but more important is to never fail expressing heartfelt feelings, even when quite brief.

Actually it’s no different than Numbers10:4: “”When a bugle gives a single, short
blast, that’s the signal to assemble. When it gives a long blast, that’s the signal to march.” Thus First Kings 8:28: Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant
and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee today.”

+++ALLELUIA+++

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