<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I am done with apologies. If contrariness is my</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">inheritance and destiny, so be it. If it is my mission</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to go in at exits and come out at entrances, so be it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I have planted by the stars in defiance of the experts,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">and tilled somewhat by incantation and by singing,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">and reaped, as I knew, by luck and Heaven's favor,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">in spite of the best advice. If I have been caught</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">so often laughing at funerals, that was because</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I knew the dead were already slipping away,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">preparing a comeback, and can I help it?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">And if at weddings I have gritted and gnashed</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">my teeth, it was because I knew where the bridegroom</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">had sunk his manhood, and knew it would not</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">be resurrected by a piece of cake. ‘Dance,’ they told me,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">and I stood still, and while they stood</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">quiet in line at the gate of the Kingdom, I danced.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">‘Pray,’ they said, and I laughed, covering myself</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">in the earth's brightnesses, and then stole off gray</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">into the midst of a revel, and prayed like an orphan.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">When they said, ‘I know my Redeemer liveth,’</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I told them, ‘He's dead.’ And when they told me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">‘God is dead,’ I answered, ‘He goes fishing ever day</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">in the Kentucky River. I see Him often.’</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">When they asked me would I like to contribute</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I said no, and when they had collected</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">more than they needed, I gave them as much as I had.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">When they asked me to join them I wouldn't,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">and then went off by myself and did more</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">than they would have asked. ‘Well, then,’ they said</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">‘go and organize the International Brotherhood</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">of Contraries,’ and I said, ‘Did you finish killing</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">everybody who was against peace?’ So be it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Going against men, I have heard at times a deep harmony</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">thrumming in the mixture, and when they ask me what</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I say I don't know. It is not the only or the easiest</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">way to come to the truth. It is one way.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Wendell Berry</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>