Nate

The young man in the picture is Nate Hawk. It is my privilege to call Nate a friend. I met Nate about two and a half years ago. His father Jim Hawk has done almost all my tattoos and Nate was going to be in Illinois for the summer. Nate lives in Presho, South Dakota. Jim wondered if I needed any summer help out on the farm and I told him I would give Nate a try. It is really hard to find a kid, and Nate is a kid, who is willing to do hard labor. Nate and I would be cutting down trees, cutting out brush, splitting big pieces of wood to make firewood and other work along those lines. Nate impressed me from day one. He was willing to do whatever work it was that I was doing that day and would give everything he did the best effort he had. When it got hot in July and early August Nate said it was no problem he was used to working in 100 degree heat in South Dakota. He had never worked in 95 degree heat in Illinois with 75% humidity and a heat index approaching 115 degrees. We were working one afternoon cutting up a tree we had felled in the morning and I noticed Nate was nowhere in sight. When he reappeared a few minutes later I asked him where he had gone. He told me he had gotten overheated and had gone over in the woods a little was to puke. I offered to quit for the day but he said he was okay now. It was, however, the last time we went to McDonald's for lunch. He still won't eat there. The thing you need to know about Nate is that he has some limitations. He is not the brightest kid you are ever going to meet. He has ADHD and can be really annoying to some people. The most important thing you need to know about Nate is that he has a good heart. He is willing to help out with any project you have. He can fix things. When I break something I have to take it somewhere to be fixed. When Nate is around he looks at whatever it is I broke, figures out how to take it apart, fix the broken piece and put it back together. I look at a pile of parts and see a pile of parts. Nate looks at the same pile of parts and sees a lawnmower engine. So Nate has a gift, it is the ability to fix things. I can read a book and recall facts about events that happened a hundred years ago but fixing broken stuff is just not an ability I have. If you need something broken I can usually accomplish that task.
Nate chatters a lot about all sorts of things but most often it is about girls. Many people find him annoying for that reason. Come on folks, he is 18 years old. When you are 18 it is all about girls. You want to figure out the mystery that is the female of the species. So I let Nate talk and I listen. I never call Nate names or tell him he is stupid. There seem to be plenty of people in his life who are willing to do that to him. He carries on about girls and cars and holly double pumper carbs and mickey thompson something or others and I listen. After he talks about cars for a while he will often say, "You have no idea what I am talking about do you." I admit I don't but he enjoys telling the story. Isn't that what all of us are looking for? We want to tell our story and we want to have someone listen, even if they don't understand.
This past Spring Carol and I drove up to Presho, South Dakota to see Nate graduate from high school. It was about a 500 mile trip one way to watch an hour ceremony. Why did we go? Nate asked us. He is a good kid and everyone needs someone to say, "You matter to us and we are proud of your accomplishment."
The bottom line really is sometimes you have to look past the surface. Past the obvious. What is inside is what really counts the most and if more of us had the good heart Nate has the world would be a better place.