Bison are 'Cool'

This afternoon, I sat down to my lunch and my 12 year old daughter sat next to me. As I put down my phone she noticed my screensaver.

“Papa, why do you have a photo of a bison set as your screensaver?” She asked.

“Why do you think that I have a screensaver with a bison on it?” I replied.

“Is it because you think they’re cool?”

“Maybe, but that’s not it.”

“Is it because they are big like you and they are intimidating?”

“No, keep going.”

She thought about it for a little longer and then she said, “I give up. Why?”

I turned on the screensaver and showed it to her and asked her to describe what she saw. She looked and saw this massive beast facing a blizzard head on. It’s fur had crystals of snow on its coat and it appeared to not give a shit.

The fur of the beast is matted. It didn’t care what it looked like. This enormous animal was taking all the hits and knew it was built for whatever life threw at it.

She sat back in her chair and asked, “I see all that, but why do you have it?”

I gave her the best answer that I could give.

“G, the bison represents me. The snow and the harsh weather represents what this crazy world throws at me. Business is not easy, but I still push through. Todays world is not easy and quite difficult. However, we still push through. Whatever life throws at you, you must be like the bison. Develop a thick matted coat to help get through the hard times. If you can do this and live like a bison during the tough times you appreciate the blue skies and nice weather much more.”

She said, “Cool.” Then she got up and left me to my lunch.

After she walked away I pondered our conversation. When I put this screensaver on my phone I was going through some very dark times. Each day it reminded me to stay the course and keep going. The blizzard eventually stopped and sunny skies appeared again.

Time for a new screensaver.