Robert J. Yinger: Dean of The School of Education, Professor of Educational Psychology

What was a situation in which you failed and what did you learn from it?

Prior to coming to Baylor, my wife and I and our three children lived for 10 years on a small hill farm in the Ohio Valley. Learning the ways of agriculture, animal husbandry, diesel mechanics and small town life proved an opportunity for lifelong learning and learning about life. The challenge of making good hay was particularly instructive.

Proper timing and the right equipment are everything for putting up a good hay crop. It is a handcrafted process that old-timers properly refer to as "making hay." And yes, you must do it while the sun shines. The rarity of three summer days uninterrupted by rain showers in southern Ohio makes hay harvesting as much art as science. Until acquiring this art, I failed often and sometimes completely. The challenge in this climate is harvesting and storing hay that won't mold. It turned out that my main problem proved to be a failure to listen properly, as is true in other facets of life. After much frustration and failure, an experienced farmer asked me if my hay sounded right before I bailed it. What? Yes, properly cured hay not only feels a certain way in the hand but sounds a certain way, too. It has a particular raspy sound when the moisture content is just right. By listening carefully to my hay, I learned when it could be bailed and stored without molding. Every cold winter morning that I broke open a bale of hay to feed the sheep and horses and smelled the warm, leafy aromas of summer, I remembered the major lesson learned about both hay and life. Make hay while the sun shines, but listen carefully first.