Farmer's Creed

(This applies to more than farming.  Thanks Joe.)

• I believe a man's greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.
  
• I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person's character.
• I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honorable way a man can spend his days on this earth.
• I believe my children are learning values that will last a lifetime and can be learned in no other way.
• I believe farming provides education for life and that no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.
• I believe many of the best things in life are free: the splendor of a sunrise, the rapture of wide open spaces, the exhilarating sight of your land greening each spring.
• I believe true happiness comes from watching your crops ripen in the field, your children grow tall in the sun, your whole family feel the pride that springs from their shared experience.
• I believe that by my toil I am giving more to the world than I am taking from it, an honor that does not come to all men.
• I believe my life will be measured ultimately by what I have done for my fellowmen, and by this standard I fear no judgment.
• I believe when a man grows old and sums up his days, he should be able to stand tall and feel pride in the life he's lived.

Written for New Holland and originally published in October 1975.