“To escape from prison you must first realize that you are the prison.”

– Gurdjieff, author and spiritual teacher

“You’ve got to hang onto him,” Father admonished. “Show him who the boss is!”

I looked over at my 700-pound 4-H steer then back at my father.

“Seems pretty obvious who the boss is,” I replied with a nod to my calf.

“Oh hell!” Father grumbled and snatched the halter from me. At the time I was 12 years old and embarking on my first year as a 4-H beef club member. One of the first tasks, after selection and weigh-in, was breaking the animal to lead. As the calf stood nearly as tall as me at the shoulders and outweighed me by several hundred pounds, I could see no way to successfully man...

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