So Diesel
The thing that’s driving alla parents and teachers nuts these days is the kids randomly yelling out the numbers, 6-7! at the top of their lungs.
If you wanna know why, read this. But it is maddening.
Then again, I figure every generation has its weird saying that irritated adults – gotta figure, that’s at least a major reason why they do it in the first place.
For me, there was a buncha items of slang that I remember, most of which I put into the novel I wrote years ago.
In the 90s, someone who was “diesel” was someone that was strong; “cock diesel” was someone super strong.
I was reminded of this when I came across a story about a donkey named, Diesel that escaped from its ranch in 2019 out in California.
The reason was that he was frightened by a mountain lion and ran off.
His owners spent weeks looking for him but never found him and assumed that he ended up getting killed and eaten by wild animals.
But Diesel’s story didn’t end there. It was only the start.
See, a donkey, matching Diesel’s description, was discovered living with a herd of wild elk in 2023.
The assumption was that he found a new home and family. But it gets better.
Evidently, local wardens found a dead mountain lion that was kicked to death by a hoofed animal.
The next time the elk herd was found with Diesel, Diesel was – evidently – their leader.
In other words, the thing that ended his old life – a mountain lion scaring him from his old home – was the thing that that started his new life – facing a mountain lion, killing it, and becoming the leader of a herd of animals, not his own.
His old owners, upon seeing videos of their donkey, said they were just going to leave him be because he looked happy.
And really, what does anyone really want for anyone – or thing – they love but for them to be happy?
Wait, not just happy but happy and thriving…in a position of leadership to boot!
I knew I had to tell you about this story the moment I read about it because it fits so well into my idea that we cannot move forward unless we face up to our pasts.
So many people I know are doing exactly that, and I’m so proud of them for doing that, truly.
A little before my own life as I knew it ended when Alison got sick, I told you about a quote from Chesterfield that went: Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Almost a dozen years later, I’m revisiting that quote and that idea and leaving my familiar shores to try doing more new things.
I’ll let you know how it goes when it happens.
Location: a middle school, trying to figure out what to do
Mood: achy
Music: My physical is strong, and my mind is cock diesel (Spotify)
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