The term COWBOY is an interesting topic. The dictionary defines "Cowboy" as a person who works with cattle in North America and normally from Horse back. They also perform other duties from mending fences, maintaining equipment and care of the grounds that enclose the livestock. However, I feel there is more to being a cowboy than just that of tending to cattle. True many people are mistaken to be cowboys just because they wear a western Fedora..

However, not all cowboys handle cows today. Not all cowboys are good men. Not all cowboys Rodeo. Some cowboys may hate country music, and some throw a football on Sunday. Not all men who wear a cowboy hat will be like Will Rogers or 80 John. Oddly, Charles Russell and Frederick Remington both captured the cowboy's in their wonderful paintings and statues while neither were really a cowboy by definition. So it's a mystic topic about the men who wear those hats.

Yet this word Cowboy has been used with double meanings. Sometimes referring to as reckless. Occasionally used to express a stubborn mentally and additionally once used when referring to non-white wranglers who worked cattle. We had the Vaqueros, the Wrangler, the Mavericks and the Cowboy. Men just didn't seem to appreciate any term that referred them as "Boy". Though none of these the origin of the word. Today, the cowboy ranges a vase array of careers, personalities and such. And the term Cowboy, means much more than just tending cattle.

The modern world change and those men we call Cowboys had to seek income from other things besides running cattle. Some today may be an electrician or perhaps the stock clerk at the feed store. Maybe he became a doctor like "Red Duke" of Houston Medical Science Center, Houston, Texas. He might sell tractor equipment and own a NBL basketball Team like "Peter Holt" owner of the San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps big Texas banking like "George Hawn" and owner of Prade Ranch can't be both a cowboy and a Banker. Then there is a cowboy who owns more land in the USA than the federal government named "Ted Turner" who has more buffalo today than this nation had free roaming in 1800. They all share the mystic wearing of the Fedora in different styles and blocks known as the Cowboy Hat.

Some may Rodeo, Some drink beer at the dance hall, some just love to wear the clothes. Some like Troy Dunn from Queensland, Australia currently ranked 8 on the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) circuit or Adriano Moraes from Brazil ranked number 2 both earning well a million dollars. I suppose they just wear the hat of being a cowboy.

Then there is a guy named Myron Duarte from Maui, Hawaii who should have known more about surf boards "Dude" than becoming a career Bull Rider with the PRCA circuit holding nearly a million cash in prize money. There was also Marion Robert Morrison, that received the congressional gold metal in 1979 and the Presidential Metal of Freedom in 1980, who had became one of the all time greatest Cowboy Actors, you know him as John Wayne. There is even Al Gore's college room mate Tommy Lee Jones who graduated Harvard with honors and a law degree. However, he liked theater and headed to New York performing a few plays, then off to Hollywood performing a few movies and even directed a few. Today, he raises the finish set of Polo Ponies in the Nation at his San Saba, Texas Ranch.

Sure being a cowboy is more than just wearing that special hat. It's more than just working cattle. It's a code of ethics which Gene Autry said best. The Code of the West.

The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
He must always tell the truth.
He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
He must help people in distress.
He must be a good worker.
He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
He must respect women, parents, and his nations laws.
The Cowboy is a patriot.

I'm proud to call myself cowboy. I respect those men who proudly wore their fedora's. Be it LBJ, Ronald Reagan, or Bill Pickett. We are all of great men when you follow the code. Cowboy, Wrangler, Goat Roper, Kicker, Country, Hick, just don't call me Redneck.

Sure, being a cowboy is more than just because a man wears a cowboy hat. It's more than a pair of fancy western boots scooting the dance floor and likely there are levels of what is the true cowboy. Be it a Rodeo Cowboy or Urban Cowboy, or the hard working members out on the ranch. Cowboy is so much than just working those cows. it is a culture of the west. It is a code, where as Cowboys we set the example that children desire to follow. We set the example that men from aboard respect.

Sure, it's apparent I'm a Cowboy by my clothes, it also means a higher standard of manners that guide my soul. Manners which earn the respect from neighbors, manners to remember to tip one's hat. A culture built from a frontier past, today holds a special respect for those men who wear the Cowboy Hat.