Every year, it happens like clockwork at my house. At some point in the late fall or early winter, someone in my house gets up in the morning and stumbles to the bathroom, reaches into the shower to turn the handle....and nothing. There’s no water.
Once again, the pipe in our well-house has frozen because of the dropping temperatures. For the next few hours, we will be waterless until someone wanders into the frigid cold to turn on the heat lamp in the well house and the pipes thaw. This jury-rigged solution makes it work and yes, a professional is who came up with the system.
To have water in our house, we had to take that difficult first step: acknowledging that we didn’t know what we were doing. We had to ask for help. We had to admit we didn’t know everything.
In fact if I admit it, I don’t know how - and this is just a rough estimate - 99 percent of the world works.
I don’t know how electricity works, so that’s why I hire an electrician because it’s done right. I don’t know how to play the G chord on the guitar, so that’s why I attend concerts because it’s done beautifully. I don’t know why I’m gaining weight, so that’s why I see my physician because she can tell me that I do know why I’m gaining weight but I won’t give up my fries.
I also thought I was the only one who drove down the road wondering why wood is used for electrical poles, how birds are able to sit on electrical lines without getting electrocuted, or how long the stripes on a highway are. (Because wood is cheap but good, electricity takes the path of least resistance and that’s not a bird leg, and 10 feet which is longer than most people guess.)
Every day, I must admit that I don’t know something. Every day, I will wonder about something I don’t know. And every day, I will ask questions or research something. At the end of the day, there are a lot of useless facts in my head but I wouldn’t give up my curiosity for anything.
(I’m trying not to buy as many books as I have in the past but I couldn’t pass up “A Walk Around the Block” by Spike Carlson, where he explores everything from how squirrels use their tails to when manhole covers came into existence.)
Admitting you don’t know something is hard but that gives you the opportunity to learn something new, to need someone else’s expertise and knowledge, to reframe how you think. .
And it is not just the physical world around us where we need to acknowledge we don’t know everything.
It’s also our ideas and opinions and thoughts which affect our decisions.
Especially these days, we need to admit that we don't know everything about a particular subject..
Your neighbor doesn’t know everything. The person calling into a radio show doesn’t know everything. People posting and sharing on social media certainly don’t know everything. Even the experts may not know everything.
Yet sometimes, we give them all the same influence. We need to admit that the person who has devoted their life to a certain subject has more authority. We need to admit that the person who is dealing with the situation day-in, day-out knows more than we do. We need to admit that a person who has boots on the ground and deals with the problem on a regular basis is who we should listen to.
It’s not wrong to admit that we don’t know everything. In fact, it takes a leader with an open mind to acknowledge that they are willing to listen to others, that they are willing to change their mind, that they are willing to make an informed decision based on those who do know.
And at the end of the day, we need leaders - and a community - which are willing to acknowledge that they don’t know everything, but are willing to learn.
McCook's last hometown bakery closed this past week, leaving a void not just for donuts but for connections.
Many organizations and businesses in McCook offer the opportunity to recycle, reuse and repair items that may just end up in the trash.
Organizer for Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival and former librarian named Oct 2025 volunteer of the month.
McCook's Third Thursdays were created to get businesses and organizations involved and designed to create life-long memories for the community.
Long-time community advocate Barb Ostrum received the Sept 2025 McCook Volunteer of the Month award.
We need to celebrate our young people while they are here and encourage them to return.
While some like myself appreciate a rainy day, others dread them for a variety of reasons. We need to be empathetic as interact with others.
MCFF Fall Grant Deadline is Oct. 1. Complete list of former recipients on MCFF website
With so much going, it is time for a “This, That and the Other Thing” column, where we will cover several topics, not very deeply but hopefully with a sense of humor as we clean up and prepare for a busy week in McCook. *** McCook again made state and national news this week for ice. This time, it was in the form of hail that pounded the community for hours upon hours. Conversations this week begin with “where were you….?” or “how many windows did you lose?” And while they may be legitimate and are offering their services, it is like vultures with all the roofing repair and dent removal businesses which have descended upon McCook following the storm. As city officials noted, do your due diligence with any company doing repairs for you and follow the old adage, which is old and still around because it’s true: If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. And one last note on the storm, we need to be careful what we ask for. As storm after storm approaches McCook and then splits in two to go around the town, we finally got one to roll right over us. The storm liked McCook so much it slowed down and just there. I was in Lincoln during the storm and trying to determine when I would drive home. I thought the weather app had frozen or the radar was broken because every time I looked, the storm was still sitting over McCook, doing its damage. I guess we can be thankful the next time a storm seemingly just goes around us. *** We are in the thick of McCook’s Heritage Days celebration. Congratulations to all the Heritage Days Royalty, which was announced at the MNB Bank Mixer this week. A special shout-out to Bill Donze, better known as Mr. Bill and his wife, Kathy, who were honored as royalty for their impact in McCook. As many know, Mr. Bill is fighting cancer and the prognosis isn’t good. The chances of him selling snow-cones and candy out of his van next summer near the McCook Aquatic Center are not good. One judge of his impact was the response to my column about Mr. Bill a few months ago. The post was shared thousands of times, viewed nearly 70,000 times with just as many comments by people sharing their fond memories of Mr. Bill. So when you see Mr. Bill riding down Norris in the convertible this weekend in the Heritage Days parade, send extra prayers and well-wishes to the man who has brought so much joy to so many kids - and adults too - over the years. *** Continuing on the Heritage Days theme, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the McCook Rotary Club is tossing all egos and formality out the window this weekend. As the president of the McCook Rotary Club, I invite everyone to at least watch, if not participate, in the Rotary’s first inflatable costume relay race on Saturday as part of the festivities in Norris Park. These are those giant, blow-up costumes you usually see around Halloween. The first costumes were usually T-Rexes but now there is everything imaginable available as a design. With the idea for the race originally conceived by Melanie Goodenberger, she has purchased everything from corn on the cob to a cowboy riding a chicken. This is a fund-raiser for the Rotary Club with a cost of just $20 for a team of four to participate in the relay race. But it is also a chance to giggle, perhaps make a fool of yourself and just have fun. Come to the park Saturday afternoon for the Wiener Dog races and stay for the Rotary Relay races. While the dogs will already be close to the ground, the relay race participants will likely just end up on the ground. *** With so much going on in McCook this week, I debated whether there should be another activity the next week but the response has already been great for the Lied’s Arts Across Nebraska’s next production in McCook. Hosted by the McCook Creative District, the Omaha Street Percussion ensemble will perform at the Fox Theater on Wednesday, Sept. 24. There is a matinee showing at 10:30 a.m. but I will be up-front…we are testing the capacity of the Fox with every seat already claimed with students. If that is the only show you can make, please come and we’ll find you a seat but it may be those up in the rafters. Otherwise, please plan to attend the 7 p.m. show on Sept. 24. And even better, there is no cost thanks to the Kimmel Foundation and the Friends of the Lied. This is a busy week and a busy weekend but this is a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy a fun, entertaining evening of live music.
Most likely, we aren't going to be good at something at the start. But that shouldn't stop us from trying.
