On a long flight, a smug young atheist sat down next to an old cowboy in a dusty hat and boots. Bored, the atheist nudged his neighbour and said, “Wanna talk? Time kills faster if you strike up a conversation with someone.”
The cowboy closed his paperback slowly and squinted at him. “What’cha wanna chew about?”
Grinning, the atheist leaned in. “How ‘bout why God isn’t real? Or why heaven, hell, and the afterlife are just fairy tales?”
The cowboy scratched his stubbled chin, unfazed. “Well, shoot. Them’s big topics. But first—lemme ask you somethin’. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass. Same dang meal. But a deer shits little pellets, a cow drops a floppy pancake, and a horse lets loose a pile of clumps. Why’s that?”
The atheist froze. His smirk faded as he racked his brain. “Uh… I dunno,” he muttered.
The cowboy tipped his hat back and laughed, warm but sharp. “Partner, if you don’t know shit about shit… you reckon you’re smart enough to jaw about God, death, and what’s after?”
The cabin hummed with silence as the atheist sank into his seat, cheeks flushed, staring out the window, as the cowboy cracked his book open again. “Life’s got a heap o’ mysteries,” the old man added. “Sometimes knowin’ what you don’t know—like why shit comes out different—is wiser than actin’ like you got all the answers.”
Moral of the story:
Don’t strut around like a rooster if you don’t know shit. The world’s full of puzzles—big and small. True smarts aren’t about barking opinions; it’s about admitting when you’re outta your depth. Even a cowboy knows: humility’s the first step to learning something worth knowing.
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