A long time ago when I was a student at BYU, there was a kid in our married student ward who exuded poverty and redneck like no other student I ever encountered. He'd look longingly at the trash dumpster every time he walked past it. He was nice enough to everyone around him, but he lacked awareness as to what was considered ... umm ... *modern* behavior...

So one day his (non-BYU student) older brother came rolling up on a dirty, old motorcycle. He had scruffy hair, dirty jeans and a wallet-on-a-chain. Somehow or another I couldn't avoid getting introduced to him as I was trying to sneak unnoticed out to my car in the parking lot. So I stood there next to the two brothers as they were having a great ol' time talking about what their dad was up to and what government conspiracy was out to get him this time...when the older brother pulled out a red shop cloth. You know, it's the kind that mechanics use to wipe their hands with when they get grease on them.

I had been trying to find a graceful way to get out of there as quickly as possible without being offensive, but once this red shop cloth came out, I was mesmerized. I have never seen a guy spit on a cloth and start cleaning a motorcycle before. No kidding. This guy was literally spit polishing his bike. The chrome had a few streaks on it, but overall, it shined brightly in the sunlight. I was nauseated and intrigued at the same time. Like a gory train wreck, I couldn't avert my eyes, no matter how disgusting it got. He'd sometimes drop a loogie from way up high onto the rag, and other times, he'd press it up to his lips as his cheeks puckered up to effuse the rag with magical powers of cleansing agent. It didn't seem to matter that sometimes the spot he chose to put his mouth on was already dirty...nope, he'd press on like any good country trooper getting the cattle to market.

I don't know what inspired me to recall this moment of clarity about where I wanted to go in life...and where I didn't want to go...but as random as this post is, it is also true. God bless all the rednecks out there for the unintentional inspiration they give on a daily basis.