Brasher

That called him Brasher because he took the foreman on. He would
look at the foreman as if he was the most stupid man on earth. When
there was work from Coventry to Cologne Brasher had a job. But when
they stopped building the hospitals and the flyovers, the meat packing
factory and the policestations Brasher found he did not get the nod
from the yard. The yard handed the jobs out and Brasher found he had
times at home doing nothing with his time.

No man should be idle in his prime, thought Brasher and went to the Job
Centre one afternoon.
"Have you been here before" said the lady looking to the ceiling rather
than looking at Brasher.
"I haven't lady, this is the first time that I have been out since a
boy."
She took a piece of paper and wrote something on it.
"You'll have forms to fill in. And we'll have to interview you. Have
you a range of trades?"
Brasher thought the woman stupid.
"A man has only one trade."

She turned her eyes from the ceiling to Brasher.
"A craftsman no less?"
"A tradesman lady."

He could teach the woman a thing or two. You don't look to the ceiling
when you're talking to someone. You have to respect a person even if
you don't want to. You have to have the decency to look a man in the
face.

"Who asked you?"
Brasher was in the Lion and something when he told Tom the tale of the
job centre. Bill had lent over and told Brasher that he got what he
asked for. Bill went on because he had been in the Lion and something
all afternoon and it was now nine at night.
"Come on Brasher, if you hadn't been so smart with the foreman you
wouldn't be ruled off all jobs. With the jobs short."
Brasher left the pub and walked down towards the river. He did not stop
at the river but walked alongside it. He walked on and on past bridges
he knew but didn't know the name of. It was only when he got to the big
old building where the lords and government sat did he stop.
"Now I feel better."
He had felt bad when Bill had turned on him. But Bill was growing old
and Brasher was not going to turn on him. Looking at the old building
he felt better.

Bill sought out the foreman the next day. He did not offer to buy him a
pint, or get his way with him. He just stood in front of him.
"I know through the years I have treated you like a fool."
The foreman looked at Brasher. He said nothing.
"I know I had a laugh at you at times. But now I see how foolish I was.
I was the stupid one not you."
The foreman looked on. He did not smile, nor look happy at what he
heard. Brasher felt foolish at the end of his speech.
"Have you nothing to say?"
The foreman rubbed his head.
"I have plenty. But would you listen? Would you listen to me, a stupid
fool?"
"I told you I was the fool."
"Then so be it. You are the fool. And I am the man with the jobs. You
laughed at me those years when we were moving from job to job, ten jobs
more for the one we finished. And I looked at you and thought you were
the most stupid of men. You bragged and boasted, showed off. But you
were good at your job. I paid you for the job. But you were the
peacock. Now we can choose our peacocks."

Brasher smiled. And then he laughed. he remembered a thing that his
mother said to him when he was a boy. "Son you are a braggard and a
loudmouth and I hope it gets you in no more trouble than a kick in the
rear."

He had to laugh, he thought, because she was so right. What did his
wife say to him when she told him to leave one cold snowy morning? That
he was a bragger, a showoff. He thought of this as he stood before the
foreman. Brasher put out his hand.
"Shake my hand."
"Why?"
Because when Paul was on the road to Damascus he was struck from his
horse by God. The Lord said to him that he must become a follower of
Christ and not a murderer of Christs followers. In one moment Paul was
given what few of us are given. The chance to see our foolish, stupid
or unwise ways in the bat of an eye. Thank you for doing that for
me."
He shook the foremans hand with all the kindness that he could. The
foreman looked at him, unsure.
"No, I am not currying favours friend. You have given me something I
will always treasure. The sight of my stupidity. In a second you have
changed my life."

Brasher walked off. Later he got jobs from the foreman. But Brasher now
did not see the man as stupid. And he wasn't. It had taken Brasher the
years of his schooling, his apprenticeship, his manhood to arrive at
that precious truth. That he was the fool.

May we all get that moment when we see ourselves like an open book. See
our foolish pride, our poor thinking, our bragging and ignorance. It is
a wise time when we can see that.

Brasher thought that the world would not be at each others throat if
there was some self-knowledge. Brasher decided to study ways of
learning not humility or religion, but truth.

And in that fight he came to justice.