My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys? jul 14, '06

my heroes have always been cowboys? jul 14, '06 11:00 pm for everyone I just, I mean, well I saw this as a blog entry from one of my friends, and her blog really didn't have much to do with cowboys, per se. Except that I come from the heart of "Cowboy Country". We have always had the "dime-store" cowboy types here. They look like the tv/movie image of "cowboy" but, God help them if they actually had to ride a horse, let alone do real cowboy work. They usually wear nice hats, really nice "western-cut" shirts, jeans, and some fancy kind of boots. Then we have the "Rodeo" cowboys. Texas, folks, is full of "Rodeo Cowboys", and "Bullriders". These are distinguishable from the "dime-store" variety, in that they usually have a Texas, or Oklahoma accent to start with, they really do know how to ride a horse, if not for more than 8 seconds, and most of them, not that long! Else, they'd be champions, every one. Fancy belt-buckles notwithstanding. (You can buy these). Also, their hats have a more beat-up, used look to them, they've worn their fancy shirts more than once, and, if they're wearing fancy boots, they have a work pair somewhere nearby. They also wear Wranglers! Not just jeans. Wranglers tend to wear better, and last longer than your run-of-the-mill jeans, and they make our butts look better. So there. A lot of them have grown up on ranches, or farms, and they are real cowboys, as far as that goes, kind-of like Cowboys-in-Training. Then there're the real cowboys. A cowboy isn't as easily discerned as one might think. He isn't always wearing a cowboy hat, or boots. He looks uncomfortable in a fancy shirt, and jeans. "Them're Sunday clothes". He's almost always willing to help, and is polite. "Yes, ma'am, just keep on that way another five miles, and you're there." If you were to walk into a room with several guys hanging around, how would you be able to tell the cowboy? He's the one listening to everyone else, the one who smiles and nods at you when you walk in the door, or offers to help if you've got a load in your arms, unless the load is your kid, then he just smiles, sympathetically. A cowboy has lots of stories about the places he's been, the things he's done, and there's usually a lesson learned, somewhere in that story. A cowboy is the one, that if you were stranded somewhere, you just know, would know exactly what to do, and how to do it, to keep you safe, or he'd die trying. Cowboys have big knuckles, and scars, but not a lot of calluses on their hands, because they have to wear gloves when handling rope, and wire. It gets to be a part of who you are. If you're going out to work, you put on your gloves. The work cowboys do, if they didn't wear gloves, they'd have no hands left. So, don't look for calluses so much as a worn out pair of gloves. Their clothes usually look really comfortable, who needs their pants chafing in the heat of the day, or a shirt binding you around the shoulders, when you have to do some lifting? And their boots? Stories could be written about the old pair of run-down boots on that man's feet. They look to be a part of him. The uppers may have been repaired where spur-straps have rubbed through, the heel is run-down, they probably sag out a little, but they fit his feet like that worn-in pair of gloves fit his hands. If you look into a cowboy's eyes, you'll see traces of sunsets long-gone, and sunrises he never thought he'd see. You'll see that blue-norther that came down like a freight train, and caught him out with the stock, or the Tornado that crossed the valley in front of him that time. You'll see time after time of riding drag. (that's following the herd, and breathing the dust they kick up) You'll see the speculation of what he might find up the trail, over the next rise, or around the next bend, as he's riding lead. Everything when you're riding lead is examined in respect to what it means to the herd, you learn to think that way. Nowadays, there are not a lot of open ranges for the cowboy to learn his trade, not a lot of herding done anymore, no place really to drive them to, so the cowboy, in that respect is a dying breed, but he can still be found. He can be found in the firefighter that goes in, when common-sense says to run. In the cop, who enters a dark, unfamiliar place to make sure it's safe for your family. In the Paramedic who holds your hand, and tells you no matter what happens, he won't leave you. You can find a little bit of the cowboy in each of these, and in the truck-driver who stops to help, or guides you through a bad storm in the middle of the night, even though you cut him off earlier that day. I guess the thing is, we all of us have a little bit of the "Cowboy Heritage" in us. If we just stop to think about it. ©F.Pierce 7/15/06