Guest Post -- Grandpa Fish

Note from Mom:  In response to Briana's letter, I received this from my dad:

I like, too, that she is “finding” the scriptures.  Great joy therein…

Here is a favorite of mine to share when times don’t go quite like it seems they should.  We learned this in childhood and I found it again in college.

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley – but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass –

But the liveliest bass in the lake.

We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,

There’s something for all of us here,

There’s a big work to do, and there’s lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can’t be the sun be a star;

It isn’t by size that you win or you fail –

Be the best of whatever you are.

I know it doesn’t capture the spirit of Mormonism where you’ve got to keep pounding away until the walls of Jericho fall down and you have overcome the world and set it on its ear … but at my age and viewpoint it is about being the best at whatever you are. Latter-day Saintdom seems to align.  For Brannah, that’s being a good missionary and it appears she’s caught on….

Daddy