The Wright family in Utah are the NFL Quarterbacks of professional bronc riding. There are nine family members with nine world titles among them. If you are not familiar with bronc riding, one of the last vestiges of the American frontier. It’s brutal. There are no large salaries and regular injuries that would make any professional football player flinch. And yet, none of this discourages the Wright family from riding those horses that have one purpose but to throw them off.
Cody Wright, the one who started the family dynasty some 20 years ago, was a two-time world champion and is one of the best bronc riders ever. When asked what it feels like he responds with, “Adrenaline, A little bit of fear, and you gotta learn how to control it or otherwise, you know, it go-to heck pretty quick.” The entire goal of saddle bronc riding is to hang on with style for eight seconds, to a horse that is specifically bred to buck you off. They spend nearly 250 days a year, clocking a 100,000 miles, and living in their “rodeo motels.” When they are not doing rodeo, they are working the family cattle ranch. It’s a tough life.
Cody often talks about the ideals that he was taught. Within his methodically drawn-out cowboy twang, he voices what his father told him. “Dad’s always preaching that you get out of it what you put into it. And if he’s seen you putting something into it, he was behind you. And it didn’t matter if they had to sell the farm. They were gonna get you there. I get emotional because I know how much my parents gave up when I was starting out when money was tight.” He goes on to say, “You know, I wanted a gold buckle. But to ride every horse the best I could was always what did it for me, you know? Sure I want money. Who doesn't? You need it to go along. But I always just wanted to ride broncs. It was striving to make that perfect ride. And you know, the feeling that you feel when you’re in time with a horse that’s trying to get you off their back as hard as they can."
As educators, we love what we do as much as the Wright Family loves riding broncs. It’s in our DNA. Seeing the light in a student's eyes when they finally learn something, or the joy on their face to be at school, or just the pleasure of being around the younger generation of our community “does it for” us. This is the time when we pull together and think of who we are serving and the joy that we are giving them. We may not all agree on everything but what we can agree on is the importance of keeping our focus on serving our kids and making sure that it continues. It is interesting to hear Cody Wright talk about how his parents sacrificed to make his dreams come true. That is what we do every week. We sacrifice to make our students' dreams come true in their futures. We may not ever see the fruit of our labor but the seeds are set and they will grow. I believe that service is the price that we pay for our time on this Earth. Our attitudes towards things are forever changed by the energy and happiness and love of the kids that we work with every day. Consequently, their attitudes and efforts are forever changed by how we treat each other and how we react to our own challenges.
Thanks for stepping up to every challenge, putting your own needs aside, and building an organization that serves our community at the highest level by supporting each other no matter what. You all are amazing.
Have a great weekend,