It may not always be the easy way, but it is the ‘cowboy way’

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Some of my earliest memories are of cowboys. Growing up in the time period that I did, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, John Wayne, and Gene Autry were all icons I looked up to. I wanted to emulate everything about them. I wore jeans and cowboy hats, and the cowboy scarf I wore to kindergarten now hangs in a frame in my home office; a glowing memory, aged but not forgotten.

Though I have had a variety of occupations in my adult life, perhaps the best was when I was a cowboy. Time was spent riding and showing horses, fixing fences, working cattle, and even riding an occasional bull. For a portion of my life, I got to live the cowboy lifestyle. It is a good way.

Roy Rogers had a tremendous demeanor and persona, which made him capable of influencing young people and reaching out to children in a positive way. He created a “cowboy creed.” It was a set of commitments young cowpokes were expected to fulfill if they were to become “real cowboys.”

1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and care for them.
8. Eat all your feed and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday School regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and country.

As an adult looking back “the creed” was a pretty good way for a young man or woman to live their life. It set a tone and tenor for young people to live by and blazed the trail for them to grow into productive adults. It set a standard by which young people could establish their character.

As an adult cowboy, there are many unwritten rules about how to behave. These are a few of them I learned.

1. Never criticize a man’s horse, dog or wife. Be kind and protective of women.
2. Always leave a gate the way you find it.
3. Hats off to eat or when you enter a home or office, when addressing the flag, and either remove or tip your hat when you meet a lady.
4. Ride for the brand. Loyalty to one’s employer and personal integrity is a source of pride. Give  100% in any situation. Cowboys never complain about a job, they just get it done.
5. Do what is right, every time, no matter the situation or the personal consequences.
6. Never go back on your word. Once given it is sacred.
7. Always tell the truth.
8. Talk less and say more.
9. Remember some things aren’t for sale.
10. Know where to draw the line.

From where I stand, living life like a cowboy and existing by those rules is a pretty good thing. It forces a man to refrain from crossing the line into “loose behavior” or acts that would degrade himself and those around him. I wish more people in our current world had grown up living by and learning Roy’s creed and practiced the “cowboy way.” Life is simple; we make it more difficult by trying to bend the rules or circumvent them.

Anytime I find myself getting near to crossing the line, I tell myself that whatever action I was getting ready to commit might be the easy way, but it isn’t the cowboy way. Good thought to live by.

Thought for the day: If more men were cowboys, there would be a lot less difficulties in the world.

Until next time, I will keep ridin’ the storm out.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260