The Scarecrow Had a Brain After All

scarecrow

Growing up, my family did not have a lot of money. We lived in a seedy part of town next door to a bar on a street known for its prostitutes. You would often find one of the scantily clad ladies sitting on our doorsteps, lighting up a cigarette as she stopped to rest. If the timing was right, you might even see your middle school gym teacher call out to her from his car and drive off with her into the sunset.

Making the Most of the Situation

My dad struggled with this more than any of us. As the man of the house, he wanted to provide us a better life. He wanted us to sleep through the night without drunk men fighting outside our window and without flashes of police lights bleeding into our bedrooms. He would often call out for people to be quiet because there were children sleeping inside, not realizing that his yelling out the window was what actually kept us awake. All the rest had become white noise.

The truth is it could have been better but it was fine. We had each other. We had what we needed. Where you live is only a place for now. What makes it a home is the people, not the location. We were fortunate to have a roof over our heads.

What we lacked in dollars and cents, we made up for with heart, courage, and you guessed it, brains. You had to in order to survive.

The Middle-School Halloween Dance

My dad worked in roofing and construction, and like today, work was hit or miss. In the warmer months, jobs were easier to find, more so if the economy was good. In the colder months, New England put a damper on construction projects. He made sure to pounce on opportunities whenever they came his way. I learned at an early age that you not only had to work hard but that you had to make the most of a situation. Work with what you’ve got. What you do today can and will affect you tomorrow.

Take the middle-school Halloween dance. All my friends were going but I did not have anything to wear. It is not as if my family could afford to spend money on something as frivolous as a costume. I thought I would just stay home and sit this one out.

My mom had other ideas. Before you know it, she dressed me in one of my dad’s many flannel shirts and stuffed me with straw (we had pet rabbits at the time). She then hunted down an old grey wig we used over the years for too many costumes to count, tied an old piece of rope around my waist, drew a “stitched-on” button nose with black eyeliner, and tossed an old straw hat on my head.

I may have left a trail of hay all over the gymnasium floor but it was a night I would never forget. Not only did I make it to the Halloween dance, I also won first prize for best costume.

Making Something Out of Nothing

In The Wizard of Oz, it is the Scarecrow who figures out how to trick the trees into giving them juicy red apples. It is the Scarecrow who puts together the plan to sneak into the witch’s castle. The Scarecrow assumed he had limited potential, simply because he was made of straw. In reality, he had more ingenuity in a single piece of that straw than most people have between their two ears.

It’s not surprising that the Scarecrow was quick to doubt himself though. Society too often judges us based on how much money we have and sets expectations on what we can and cannot do. We are made to feel we are not enough and that we need more, more, more. The Scarecrow wanted a brain, not realizing he already had one.

Being a scarecrow that one time, I know where he is coming from, but I also learned a valuable lesson. You do not need a lot to make a big impact. You can rise above it all with a little creative thinking.

My family of five did not always live on the best street or buy the most elaborate Halloween costumes, but we always had each other. Like all families, we had our ups and downs, but we made it work. In fact, my dad made it work so well we were able to move out of our old neighborhood and into a neighboring town many years later. That’s showing them, Dad!

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