When I was a young boy, I enjoyed playing Cowboys and Indians. In the late 40s and early 50s, west Texas was a wonderful place to act out my childhood imagination. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and The Lone Ranger were my favorites. I wore the toy guns and holsters, chaps, and boots to get the feeling of being a real cowboy. I played all day long, pretending to shoot the bad guys and to fight the Indians. We would tie up our captives and leave them for a while to think about their crime, but somehow they always managed to escape.
From my youth to this day when I am traveling, I continue to think about what life must have been like in the old days of the west. In my mind, I see Indians crossing the vast landscape or sitting on their horses atop a nearby mountain overlooking the vast expanse below. I see wagon trains slowly rolling across the plains on their way to a new life. I think of the many hardships they must have faced in order to make a better life, and I think of the many that never made it to their destination because of accident, disease, and ambush by Indians and devious white men. It amazes me to think of the millions of buffalo that roamed the vast western plains then. A small herd of buffalo roams near my home and images of the Old West seem so real. That is, until the camel appears. It is a strange sight to see this long-legged dromedary mixed in with the buffalo.
What strikes me most about these early settlers is their determination and willingness to endure in order to reach their goal. To me, that is still the spirit of people all over the world. Something about the human spirit compels people to search for a better existence and to keep going until life gets better. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before us because they did not give up. Whatever is in your heart to accomplish, do not waver. Dreams still come true. Western authors take us back to a time when life was not so easy, a time when life was raw and full of possibilities. Stories of courage and strength abound. Tales of families sticking together to eke out a better way of life compel us all to do our best.
I am a full blooded Texan who grew up in west Texas. I have been retired from public school education for 13 years, after working in special education most of the time as an educational diagnostician and special education consultant. I am married with four grandchildren: two boys and two girls. I find retirement to be a great deal of fun. I like to read, write, do arts and crafts and play with our grandchildren. At age seventy, I published my first western novel called, The Revenge of Sadie Jackson. You can read the first chapter free at http://www.revenge-of-sadie-jackson.weebly.com
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