One time I was eating lunch in a small restaurant in the tiny community, (population 90), of Escarpment Wyoming. This establishment could have been right out of the movie set for Jeremiah Johnson and the owner fit in perfectly. He could have played the part of any of the mountain men in the movie and he did not need a costume or coaching. He was a big man and rough looking. He had on dirty blue jeans, cowboy boots, a dirty tee shirt with the arm sleeves ripped out and had giant tattoos all over his huge arms; (even though it was 40 degrees outside).
There were mounted cougars, elk, deer, and other animals lining the walls of his barbeque place and he was telling us the story of how each one of them was taken. My wife and I were with a friend of mine who owns a big Wyoming ranch. My friend had his young ranch hand with him, and we all talked for some time with this fellow as we dined. He seemed way above average in IQ despite his appearance and the setting in which he had chosen to live.
Suddenly the big man’s phone rang. It rang with the funniest ring I’ve. I’ve heard phone’s ring with dance tunes, bells chiming, bullfrog croaks, a dog shrieking like it was being beaten, a sneeze, college fight songs, but this guy had a Tarzan yell as his telephone ringer. Ah oh ah oh ah! Ah oh ah oh ah! It was too funny to see this mountain man answer his cell phone. Did I say his two front teeth were missing?
He sat across from us as we ate our lunch and he related humorous story after story, (all were laced with mountain man profanity which coming from him somehow was not offensive). It turns out that he owned the only limousine in the area, and it had been rented by several bachelorettes for the evening and he was torn between going to the bull riding rodeo that night, or escorting these ladies from saloon to saloon. I could tell this decision was weighing on him, but somehow could not muster up much sympathy for his dilemma.
Finally, we finished lunch and in just that short amount of time that we spent with him, we felt we were already good friends. He even invited us back to go cougar hunting with him next October. As we were leaving, he remarked to me about how polite the young ranch hand had been. This youngster had been raised to be very polite and indeed everything he said was yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, thank you kindly, yes please, etc. The mountain man told me, “You just don’t see kids with manners like that around here, every kid around here is weird“.
Later I was talking to my wife about that conversation, and I asked her if she saw the irony in a mountain man with a Tarzan ringer on his phone daring to call someone else weird. I suppose every generation including those of us who are deemed to be weird has wondered what has become of the younger generation. We worry and fret that the world is going crazy and that we are the only sane ones (no matter who we are), but in the end I found him to be no different than the rest of us in his desire for order, civility, and nice people in a chaotic world.
As I sit here this morning, I wonder what happened to this mountain man. My big regret in meeting him was I wish I would have witnessed to him; he wouldn’t have taken offense and I’m sure his answer would have been interesting and that he would have thought it through. It would have been so easy to ask him what he thought would happen to him after he died; ninety-nine out of 100 times I would have done so . . . Maybe it was the Tarzan ringer. Such a wasted opportunity… Sigh…I wonder what became of him . . . I pray he found Jesus and ask forgiveness that I failed to plant that seed.
Psalm 32:10
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord,
mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
you righteous; And shout for joy
all you upright in heart.