Blog > The Hardest Job You Ever Did, I ask an old timer
I asked an old timer the other day what the hardest job he’d ever done. His answer will surprise you.
But before I share his answer, I need to share mine.
When I was a teenager, I spent a summer working with an old timer named Silas “Si” Holsclaw. Si was pushing seventy back then. Tough man. Giant hands. Always had Copenhagen juice running down his chin. Avid coon hunter. He didn’t say much unless it mattered.
Our job was clearing brush off the Missouri River levee. Miles of it. The river side was covered in giant rock, and everything was done with chainsaws. No machines to make it easier. Just heat, sweat, and chainsaw teeth spinning inches from your legs.
I thought I knew hard work. Bucking hay. Weeding beans. Detasseling corn, Cleaning out bins. That summer taught me otherwise.
Si never hurried. He worked steady. Every move had a purpose. He’d shut the saw off, wipe his face, spit, and tell a story like it was no big deal that we were balancing ourselves on rocks all day with the sun cooking us from both sides.
Looking back, I learned more that summer than I realized at the time. About patience. About showing up. About doing a job right even when no one was watching.
Si passed away years ago. No immediate family left behind. I still wish I’d told him how much that summer meant to me. How grateful I was for the chance to work beside him. He didn’t just teach me how to handle a chainsaw. He taught me how to carry myself.
That’s what I was thinking about when I asked another old timer what the hardest job he’d ever done.
I expected him to talk about something physical. Long hours. Bad weather. A job that wore your body down.
He didn’t.
There was a long pause, then he said, “Delivering a stillborn calf.”
That stopped me.
He said there’s nothing harder than putting in the work, doing everything right, and still losing. Standing in a cold barn. Doing what needs done. Knowing the cow doesn’t understand why things went wrong. And knowing there’s nothing you can fix this time.
He said it sticks with you. You remember the quiet. You remember the weight of it. And you still have to finish chores when it’s over.
That’s when it hit me.
The hardest jobs aren’t always the ones that wear your body out. They’re the ones that sit with you long after the work is done.
Si taught me how to work.
That old timer reminded me why it matters.
Some jobs leave calluses.
Others leave memories you don’t shake.
Dennis Prussman,
Premier Land & Auction Group
Real Broker, LLC,