A good definition for procrastination is as follows:
procrastination noun 1540s, from L. procrastinationem “a putting off,” noun of action from procrastinare “put off till tomorrow,” from pro- “forward” + crastinus “belonging to tomorrow,” from cras “tomorrow,” of unknown origin.
I once knew a man, we’ll call him Bill, had a wife named Alice, who always had a long “Honey-do” list for Bill. Eventually the “things to do” on the Honey-do list were resolved in time, on Bill’s time. However, Bill was no yard man, and the one thing that Bill hated to do was rake leaves and burn them or, as he would say, “get rid of those darn things.”
It was about this time of year (October or November) several years ago that Alice daily reminded Bill it was time to clean up the yard. Bill put it off as long as he could and the holidays were not far off. One weekend Bill said to Alice, “Honey, do you love your nice yard, especially the lawn?”
“You know I love our beautiful lawn, and that’s why you need to rake up all the leaves and get rid of them. Maybe start a large compost pile like the Hendersons next door.”
Bill thought to himself, “Raking all of these leaves is hard enough, but composting them is too much. If I can wait long enough the winter winds will blow all of them to the Henderson yard next door, and he can compost them.” Then he thought of a great idea. “Alice, you said that you loved our yard. Why don’t we protect it from the cold winter? Wouldn’t that be nice? After all, the man on the radio said something about winter kill.” His wife asked, “What shall we do”? That’s what Bill was waiting on, and this was his chance.
“Well, we should work with nature and not against it. We don’t want winter kill and we want our lawn to wake up next Spring green and happy. Let’s let nature lay down a warm blanket of leaves to keep it warm,” Bill said with a face full of compassion.
“If you really think so, but you’ll have to rake them next Spring. This will give you time to do some of the other chores I have for you,” she responded.
I don’t know the result of this story, but I think this excuse was not valid the next year. This story is based on a true story that radio personality Bill Benton told over the radio some years back. Thanks for the story, Bill. I’ve remembered it for many years. Not a bad idea, hmmmm.
I’m sitting at my computer finishing this article. Wait a minute, I hear Miss Patsy calling me. What did you say? Did you say rake those darn leaves?
