Johnny Cash

I could write something about the elections and how happy I am about how it turned out, but I don't feel like it, so I'm not gonna.

Instead, I want to tell you a story about the Late Great Johnny Cash. He is one of my all time heroes, I absolutely adore him.

There is a great story about Cash and an ostrich I read in his autobiography and I will retell it here. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. He truly is an inspiration, and I don't care if I am being over the top. I love Johnny Cash, and don't ever forget it. I even named someone else's dog after him.

At one point in his life, Cash lived on a farm with June. The farm had a lot of acreage, and Cash liked to take frequent walks there. They had two ostriches that lived on the property that were mates. Ostriches mate for life, I believe, so they get pretty attached to each other.

Well, one winter, it was so cold that Johnny and June were worried for the health of the ostriches, they were afraid they would freeze to death. If you know anything about ostriches, you know that they are not the friendliest of creatures. If fact, they are downright awnry. They even have one very long, sharp, big claw. They can make a defensive kill by using the claw to slash the victim vertically through its gut, making the guts spill out every where.


Anyway, because he felt bad for the creatures, Cash tried for days to persuade the ostriches to come into the barn where it would be warmer, but they refused. One day while Cash was out on a walk he had discovered that the female ostrich had died, she was laying on the ground frozen. So, they buried her, and felt bad for the other ostrich because he had lost his life long companion.

The male ostrich became quite angry and hostile throughout that long, cold winter, and he only became more and more angry and hostile. Cash thinks this must have been a result of the ostrich's grief. Any time anyone went near the bird, it would hiss and posture the intruder.

Well, on another cold day, Cash was going out for a walk along the same path he always went on a walk. Along the path, he noticed that the ostrich way sitting right in the middle, but he decided to keep walking. After all, he wasn't going to let some bird threaten him. So he walked by, and of course the ostrich hissed and postured him, but Cash just continued his routine walk. On the course, he decided he wasn't going to let the ostrich think he could bully him around, it was his farm! So Cash finds a big stick and carries it back with him in case the ostrich was still there.

Sure enough, there was the ostrich. So instead of quietly walking by like he did last time, he decided to raise the stick up in defense to give the bird a little scare when it hissed. When he did this, the ostrich jumped up in the air and knocked Cash over. Cash got back up, and the ostrich was still meaning to make a move. The ostrich jumped up again, but this time instead of knocking Cash over, he stuck his huge claw out and began to make a slice vertically going downwards on Cash's stomach. Luckily, Cash was wearing one of his thick leather belts, which prevented the bird from making the complete slit which would have in turn spilled Cash's guts.

Cash ended up in the hospital for weeks after this, on a lot of pain killers. He almost died, save for the belt he was wearing.

Can you imagine if this was they way he actually died (which could have easily happened)? He was middle aged when this happened I think, and he still had a lot of great music accomplishments ahead of him so it really would have been a huge shame. Though, you have to admit, that would be a pretty good story to go out on.