From my early youth, I have heard the expression. Yet, today I can attest to one and all that it is not completely true. How many times do you suppose an infielder, since his days in Little League practiced the throw to first base. Then, even in the pros, he throws one so high the first base man can’t reach it. Maybe practice makes a person good at something, but even then, only if it is practiced properly. Invariably, one thing many have trouble with is to unlearn the bad habits, both in baseball and in life, which they learn in their youth. And, by the way, the bad habits are well practiced.

One of the things we learned in the Marines on the rifle range was to practice, practice, practice. However, every second, they had a PMI standing over me correcting me the instant I started to practice something wrong.

I used the rifle range example for two reasons. A bad practice can mean missing the target, but a bad safety habit can lead to wounds or even death. It might seem a simple thing, but the first thing I was taught was to keep my rifle pointed downrange. That way, even if I should make the mistake of not following some other safety rule, no one will get hurt.

It is a practice that I hold to this day over all these years, even though it was years since I left the Marines. If I never point a weapon where it might hurt someone, then it won’t hurt anyone should it go off. Well, it mostly works. I can tell of examples where it didn’t. That is why they have other safety rules, like don’t play fast draw with a gun, loaded or not.

Actually, I have gotten way off of my intended subject. It was a subject that was brought to mind today as I saw a woman, likely a little older than me, coughing like crazy. I watched to make sure she recovered. In a while she was okay and back to normal.

However, it did remind me. The woman had likely swallowed and choked. We all do it. I do, and I have had an awful lot of practice. I have been swallowing for 73 years and it seems I get it wrong more frequently now than when I was 40.

It is something we don’t think about much, but we all swallow no telling how many times a day. Certainly we swallow our food. However, from time to time we swallow just because we feel a need to. We have all practiced it so much that we do it without thinking. Then, when we mess up and do it wrong, we are reminded that we need to do it right. Maybe, from time to time, we need to remind ourselves to, not only practice, but practice it right, especially while eating.

Now that I am done with this, I need to go out and practice some more… the battle with the weeds.