Everything I Know About Living I learned From Cowboys

 

For the first few years of my life, I lived in the small farming community of Afton, Wyoming. As a result cowboys have always been fascinating to me and very influential in my life, my ethics, my work habits, and whatever strengths I may possess. I learned much about myself from the images and memories I have of my cowboy grandfather, father, and uncles.

I think one of the most important things I learned from these cowboys was that a person doesn’t have to be a college graduate (not that there is anything wrong with college) to be smart and capable. All of my cowboy heroes lacked formal education beyond high school but they were highly intelligent and wise.

Another important skill I learned from these cowboys was to never take myself too seriously. These men were able to get along with their neighbors, peers, and associates. They could laugh at each other, they could tease, they could talk about their cows or crops or families or current events, and they could accept and respect their differences. They weren’t caught up in their egos, nor did they need to be in the limelight, but each of them was an example to me of how success should be defined. From these cowboys I realized that common sense got them much farther than formal book learning. I don’t mean to imply that education isn’t useful or necessary, but only that it does not guarantee success. In order to run their farms they had to be extremely intelligent but intelligence wasn’t enough. They also needed honesty, integrity, wisdom, and a strong work ethic. All of these qualities, which my cowboy family had, are integral resiliency skills our children could develop with our help.

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