“A good cowboy can do anything.” — Gene Burkhart, Sequoia-Kings Pack Trains

Cowboy: The pinnacle of evolution

Every cowboy knows there is a great deal more to being a grown-up than getting tall and inheriting the ability to reproduce.

There are ways of handling life that cannot be measured on a spreadsheet. There are ways of gaining respect in this world far beyond the scale of what you have, through that which you are.

If you are fortunate, as I was, you come equipped with an intact family and an extended family beyond that willing to take you to task for deviations from societal proprieties, and pat you on the back for extraordinary effort in the right direction.

But even if you are in that enviable position (and especially if you aren’t) that doesn’t make you a cowboy. A cowboy (and by this we’re including girls, too) is simply the pinnacle of evolution, the nadir of American culture. You’ll find there are the right ways to do something, the wrong ways, and the cowboy ways. And this little book will help you become an adult cowboy, a grown-up able to spit in the eye of evil and sloth and be respected – perhaps revered – for your independent thought and kindness to others.

Growing up right in the cowboy way is simple, but it isn’t accomplished without a lot of practice. When you finish, you’ll walk tall (no matter how high off the ground your hat may be) and cut a straight path. You’ll be kind to those who are helpless and older, and wise to those who are younger than you and need guidance.

Best of all, you’ll blossom into the kind of young man or woman that you’ll be proud of. You’ll establish a legacy of honesty and integrity and loyalty that you’ll be able to pass on to your children someday. The cowboy legacy. Whether you ever ride a horse or rope a calf, it doesn’t matter, because being a cowboy is a state of mind, and states of mind have no borders. States of mind are not restricted to any geographical area and are oblivious to how much money you have.

The American cowboy (and cowgirl) come as close as we can, here in the United States, to knighthood. These people from the days of the early West, beginning with the mountain men back in the 1820s, set standards for loyalty, courage, compassion and strength that abide today, and not just on the ranches or in the tall mountains where the packers ride. There are people who follow the cowboy code who live in the heart of the city, who commute to an office job daily from the suburbs, who drive tractors on the flatland farms, who drive all day on the highways of this country, and who now and then even live in the White House.

This is a strange kind of knighthood. There won’t be a “Sir” or “Lady” in front of your name. No one will tap your shoulder with a sword. This knighthood isn’t something you attain one day and then go on cruise control. This is a knighthood that takes daily practice and is a goal, not a static condition.

All this is in addition to religion. There are building blocks, like the bricks in a wall, which shore up the foundation of a happy life. They come on top of religion, almost any religion. These blocks are simple and learnable, whether we have had the privilege of growing up with a full loving family or not. So even if you find yourself tall and able to reproduce, and your past was a nightmare of neglect and horror, you can still become a grown-up, the cowboy way. You can do nothing good about your past except to learn from it. So take what you have been given, roll up your sleeves, and get ready for a wonderful future.

Remember: Being a cowboy, wherever you may be, is just the grandest thing a person can do.

ONE

Miniver coughed, and called it fate, and kept on drinking. — from Miniver Cheevy by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Life is opportunity, not entertainment