Ed and the cow
It was amusing to read about the Western Producer photographer who stood too close to the wrong end of a Holstein when attempting to take a picture of a nearby politician.
Cows are not that fastidious about anyone who may be passing by when nature calls. This can be particularly perilous when a cow has diarrhea. Then the advance warning is nil.
Recently I was chatting with a grandson who plays high-school football and mention was made of a lineman of our acquaintance who had caught an elbow in the mouth and was left with a tooth missing front and centre.
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My grandson laughed and said: “war wounds.”
All in a day’s work for someone whose job it is to knock the other fellow out of the way.
I suppose Ed White can regard his embarrassing encounter with the cow as being a sort of war wound.
As an agricultural journalist he can take some perverse professional pride in having been that close to the action.
When his cohorts get together over coffee, they’ll be suggesting he get danger pay.
There are people who would regard it as the ultimate in indignities to be dumped on by a cow, just as there are those who cannot understand the macho world of bruise and be bruised in a football game.
If you are of the proper mind set and are really serious about your chosen activity the gift from the cow, as with the gift from the opposing lineman, can be worn as a badge of honor.
Ed White got a front-page byline for his story about the cow encounter.
That does a lot toward making it all seem worthwhile.
