Show Up and Earn It

Show Up and Earn It

Show up and earn it, that was all the advice he gave,
Show up and earn it, those were the words he took to his grave,
He was not a complicated man with complicated theories of success,
He believed the showing up was ninety percent of the rest.

Show up and earn it, the simple and the true,
Show up and earn it, the whole philosophy in two,
Show up and earn it, and the showing up must be complete,
Show up and earn it and never call it a defeat.

He worked the county road crew for thirty-seven years of days,
He showed up in the cold and in the heat and in the haze,
He showed up when the budget cut the crew in half,
He showed up without complaint and never had to laugh.

The road he paved in the first year of his work,
Is still the best stretch of the county and it will not shirk,
Its duty for another twenty years at least,
Show up and earn it is the whole thing east to east.