Parenting & Family Quote by Tom T. Hall

A veteran storyteller uses a homey chore to make a point about time, fairness, and cultural turnover. Entertainment thrives on immediacy: slang, tempo, references, and energy that feel alive to the people living them. Each generation has its own rhythms and anxieties, its own jokes and heroes, and the most honest voices to express them are usually peers. The lawn-mowing image shrinks a big idea down to a simple neighborly truth: you do your share when it is your turn, then you let the next kid take the handle. No resentment, no nostalgia tantrum, just the ordinary ethics of passing the job along.

Coming from Tom T. Hall, the line doubles as a statement of artistic humility. Known as the Storyteller of country music, he built his reputation on vivid, plainspoken portraits of ordinary life. He also recognized when a chapter closes. Rather than clinging to a spotlight or trying to decode the tastes of audiences generations removed from his own, he suggests stepping back and trusting the creative instincts of the young. That does not deny the value of elders; it affirms a cycle. Older artists can mentor, preserve traditions, and refine craft, but they do not need to front every show forever.

There is also a sly defense of fairness here. He mowed his lawn; he did the work. He came up hard, paid his dues, carried the load during his season. A culture that refuses to hand off the mower stifles renewal and leaves youth standing idle while the grass grows wild. Letting the next kid mow does not erase the lines older hands have laid down; it keeps the yard healthy.

The sentiment is at once practical and generous: art is not a museum piece but a living yard. If you want it neat and vibrant, let the people who live in it now do the trimming.