Time To Put Some Cowboys Into Public Office

With the filing period for November elections just around the corner, we could do a lot worse than put a few cowboys into public office. They wouldn't have to be "real" cowboys, but anyone who lives by the "cowboy code" often embodied in the literature and lore of the American West.

When Owen Wister published "The Virginian" in 1902, he portrayed an admiration of the life and moral code of the cowboy drawn from his own experience. Many latter-day cowboys would endeavor to encourage the high ideal that Wister admitted had largely faded into history by 1902.

Among the many attempts by latter-day cowboys to succinctly verbalize the cowboy's code of conduct are Gene Autry's Cowboy Code, The Lone Ranger's Creed, Wild Bill Hickok's Deputy Marshal's Code of Conduct, and Hopalong Cassidy's Creed for American Boys and Girls. Their moral content is timeless, and I've tried to blend many of their important points into a single list:

--The cowboy must never go back on his word or a trust confided in him and must always tell the truth. Honesty is the highest badge of honor he can wear.

--The cowboy believes that God put the firewood there, but every man must gather and light it himself. Sooner or later...somewhere...somehow...he must settle with the world and make payment for what he has taken.

--The cowboy must be prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.

--The cowboy must be gentle with children the elderly and animals, and show good manners in every way.

--Good deeds always come to light, so the cowboy must not be lazy, boast or be a show off. Only through hard work and study can he succeed. Time or money wasted today will bring him regret tomorrow.

--The cowboy must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits.

--To be respected, the cowboy must show respect: to women, parents, his flag, his country and his nation's laws. He is a patriot.

-- The cowboy never deserts a friend. Many animals are good and loyal companions, and he must be kind to them.

In his introduction to "The Virginian," Owen Wister admitted that the cowboy he knew in the 1880s would never come again. "He rides in his historic yesterday. You will no more see him gallop out of the unchanging silence than you will see Columbus on the unchanging sea…."

The cowboy lived with the understanding that all things change, but the truth--and the truth alone--lives forever. Thus the cowboy code endures, even though 100-plus years have erased those who wrote it by their lifestyles.

The moral code of the cowboy is a good thing, one we should expect of our leaders--and ourselves.

Copyright 2002 James McAlister

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