cowboyknights

Cowboys: Knights of the New Christendom

Recently, it seems that the image of the cowboy has taken a beating at the hands of the international, liberal media elites, especially in Europe and the so-called "Blue States", and frankly that has this Texan mad enough to chew harness leather. The cowboy is, after all, a Texas invention, the combination of Anglo-Saxon cattle raising with Mexican vaquero horsemanship. It is also my opinion that the cowboy represents the very best aspects of modern, post-revolutionary western culture, at least as far as the Americas are concerned. And, contrary to what some believe, the list of attributes of the cowboy does not stop at individualism, in fact that attribute rests on somewhat shaky ground.
The cowboy is simply the more recent, more western equivalent of the European knights of old, and just like king and country knights, the cowboy has often been seen as a "lone wolf" in a rather mistaken way. For the knights in the old country, they tended to fight their battles one on one, in an honorable fashion, but this sort of individualism had its limits, because the knight was always fighting for something much bigger than simply himself. There was God, the King, his feudal lord and all the weak who need protection --just like the cowboy.

Just like the old knights in armor, although the cowboy might often appear alone, his mission is much bigger than himself. Somewhere there is a family he is working to support, a sweetheart whose memory comforts him and a God-given code of honor that he instinctively upholds at all times and at any cost. A real cowboy is a friend for life, a friend to the lonely, a protector of the innocent and one who always stands up for what is right, no matter how many may stand against him. Like the wounded knight who rides into the hopeless battle, the cowboy holds his honor more dearly than his life. He does the right thing even when all the odds are stacked against him.
The reason for this is very simple: God. It is no secret that those whose lives are tied to the land and to "time and chance" that faith becomes a necessity. A dirty, raw-boned cowboy may not have the appearance of a religious man, but the real ones have a faith that is deep and sincerely felt. This faith sustains them and gives them the principles they live their lives by. It is loyalty to God which always brings them back to home and hearth, which drives them to protect the weak, oppose injustice, always be honest, hate wickedness and love harder than any others anywhere. It is why, when a cowboy stands up for what is right, he looks his enemy in the face, doesn't play dirty and never shoots a man in the back.

When Rome collapsed and European society lay in chaos and ruins, it was the gallant knight on horse-back who challenged wrong doers, who protected the peasants and acted as the only constant defender honest people had. In the same way, life on the American frontier was often lawless. There were huge areas of land that were sparsely populated, where governments could not reach and where the law often gave way to the weak preying upon the strong. The cowboy was the one who stepped in to help, to see that justice was served, that people could sleep peacefully at night and that the wicked would be punished for their crimes. Armor may have turned to buckskins, helmets into cowboy hats and lanes into six-shooters, but the principles were the same as they had always been.
The name of the cowboy should never be used as an insult by anyone. They are the ones who always kept a humble attitude, who always defended the right, who in less glorious ways worked their fingers to the bone to get the job done, without ever a single complaint. They could take on a gang of bandits or a sack full of rattlesnakes without flinching, and still be moved to tears by a baby's smile. They could endure the very worst hardship easier than one sorrowful look from their cowgirl at home. Cowboys are men of hard resolve and soft hearts, friends to the world whose only enemy is unfairness and who live their lives by the principle that being stronger does not mean being right. Like the knights of old, cowboys are starting to fade away, but no matter what changes the world makes, their memory will always be honored, and a faithful few will always remain even if they are forgotten, because just like the English knights fighting a losing Crusade, what matters is not so much the victory, but simply knowing that you gave your all in the good fight.

Ride Hard. . . . . . Pray Harder

Background Music is Willie Nelson's "Seven Spanish Angels"