Let’s see, I’m not a lawbreaker, and I have no supersized jumbo addictive habits anymore. So, what do I like about myself? I like that when I was younger, I “went to see the elephant” often. It gave me a perspective on how the world malfunctions.
Need to familiarize yourself with the term? I picked it up from a guy I knew in the service. Before enlistment, he’d been a rodeo bull rider. Every time he’d tell a story about his wild and varied life, he’d conclude it with a variation on this phrase: “Yep, that was one time I went to see the elephant!” He meant he’d seen and done many things the average faceless person sitting in the stands had not.
We were at a buddy’s place once. The entire lot of them had all been bull or bronc riders, ropers, or other sorts of rodeo folks. I was drunk and stupid enough to allow them to put me on a horse with a mean disposition. Afterward, he and his wife Lucille gave me an icepack and sang sorrowful verses from the western song “Blood on the Saddle.”‘
“Yes, son. Now you’ve been to see the elephant!” I had been begging him for stories about the rodeo, and he told me that until you experienced it, you’d never been to see… you got it…the elephant.
Yes, I’ve been to see the elephant on numerous occasions. From those experiences, I learned exactly how stupid I and the rest of the human race can be. So, what do I like best about myself? Well, one, I survived to talk about it, and two, I eventually woke up enough not to walk into trouble just for the hell of it.
Most of the time, telling people about it doesn’t stop them from doing dumb things, but at least they can say afterward that they’ve been to see the elephant. Eventually, those that survive wise up.
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I never heard that phrase before, but I like it. You have a fun friend.
I haven’t seen him in years, but he was definitely unique.
Ah…Tim the philosopher plumber who disappeared a few months ago, much to my dismay because he was one of my favorite people around here, had been a bull rider. As he cleaned a drain one November day he told me about it and showed me some scars. I have a few pretty gory ones myself, but not from rodeo and I didn’t show him. I think it might be possible that the elephant comes to see us sometimes and we have no choice but to ride.
This is very true. Some of us do not have to seek to find.
❤️ Nope.
Is there any law that says a novice can’t try to ride a bronc? Guess there should be…
If there were nonody was paying attention to it in 1966.