Yee-haw! Today - 7/22 is National Day of the Cowboy by Silicon Valley REALTOR Michelle Carr Crowe
National Day of the Cowboy was created in 2005 to preserve the role and contributions cowboys and cowgirls made to the western heritage and history of our country. Every year on this day, the NDOC gives recognition awards to individuals, organizations and projects that contribute to the preservation of both pioneer history, and the promotion of cowboy culture.
Now you may be thinking cowboy culture means being an outlaw, having a mysterious aura about you, having women fall at your feet & men coward at them! However, all of that is just Hollywood magic. Cowboys were nothing like the way movies showed them, it was just a made up idea that started even before movies began. Thanks to Buffalo Bill's traveling Wild West show (the one the famous sharp shooter Anne Oakley traveled with), people went from thinking the West was a dirty, boring place for ranchers to seeing it as an exciting place full of adventure and lawlessness. When movies started to make their rounds, the idea of Cowboys being these men with their own moral codes and bad boy behavior was solidified.
In reality, Cowboys (and Cowgirls) were exactly what their name says... people who herded cows. They worked on ranches, rode horseback, and were often of Native American, Mexican, and African American nationality. They did have their own moral code, though, called The Cowboy Code of Conduct:
- Live each day with honesty and courage.
- Take pride in your work. Always do your best.
- Stay curious. Study hard and learn all you can.
- Do what has to be done and finish what you start.
- Be tough, but fair.
- When you make a promise, keep it.
- Be clean in thought, word, deed, and dress.
- Practice tolerance and understanding of others.
- Be willing to stand up for what is right.
- Be an excellent steward of the land and its animals
Based off those rules, it's no wonder Cowboys still get celebrated even without being the gung-ho image we picture them as!
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