The Wisdom Of Frank Lee Coffman Sr.

Frank Lee Coffman Sr. was my great grandfather and the man who began the prosperity my family has been enjoying all the way up to the present day. He founded what was then called Harrison Federal Bank, after many years of entrepreneurship that began with a bicycle shop on the Harrison square that he opened in the early 20th century around 12 years of age. Although he was a great man because of the prosperity he brought to the family, he was also a great man for his penchant for coining bon mots. These bits of wisdom are many, but I will limit the scope of this article to discussing three of them. First, if you mess with shit, you get shit on you. Second, you'll make more with your brain than you will with your back. Third, it's a long road that doesn't turn.

If you mess with shit, you get shit on you. This is probably the most self-explanatory of the bon mots. It is also the one I've seen proven in my own life most frequently. In my time, I have known and associated with crazy people, misogynistic people, dishonest people, amoral people, narcissistic people, and addicts, and every single time, no matter how much I thought I was their friend, or, in some cases, their lover, and they would never turn their destructive urges again me, I got burned. If I were to expand upon this particular bon mot, I would say that, if you see a behavior in anyone that you consider morally unsavory, be wary because you will likely be seeing it again and, if you stay around that person too long, eventually they'll come round to you.

You'll make more with your brain than you will with your back. While I understand the logic behind this one, especially for its time, I think this is the bon mot I question and it is the only one of his I've ever questioned. Working with your brain implies the white collar world, basically, and also indicates the necessity of at least a bachelor's degree. At one time, the surest path to prosperity was working in business, with the possibility of starting one's own, as one climbed the ranks in a company to the end of building a long career. Working with your back meant low pay, backbreaking work, and lower status in society. Nowadays, a synthesis is better. Skilled trades are highly in demand and largely unionized. Using your brain in order to facilitate working with your back is the smart play today.

It's a long road that doesn't turn. This one probably requires the most explanation. Basically, it's about how you treat the people you meet as you go through life. The road of life is long and as you walk down it, the people you encounter are often going to be people you encounter again, often when you least expect it. How you treat those people can have a tremendous effect on the results of encountering them again later in life. We are all walking the same road, so it only stands to reason that our lives are going to affect one another. By the same token, this also means that you should not be too mad when people do you wrong. Maybe you'll encounter them again someday when they need something from you. Either you can not give them what they need at that time or take comfort in the inherent humiliation that comes with seeking help from someone you've done wrong.

We all develop philosophies of life as we go through it. However much we might think that whatever our parents taught us, supernaturally-inspired scriptures told us, society's mores and folkways implicitly suggest to us, or the law imposes on us, we eventually are going to end up with varying ideas of what is right and wrong, wise and foolhardy, and noble and base. For me, it's been a long journey to find my own bon mots like Pop, but I do believe I've arrived at a few. To mirror this article, I'll mention three. Never assume you know a person and their experience better than they themselves do. A law is only valid when its aim is to protect the people from one another, as opposed to themselves. Life isn't fair, but sometimes, just sometimes, you can get in life's way, which you always do whenever you can.

-Frank