In The Beginning
“Too bad youth is wasted on the young.” – Mark Twain
I turned 60 today. Is that even significant? Does that even mean anything? Does it need to? I remember when I was growing up thinking that someone that age just had to be old. I don’t feel old, so I’m not. So take that. Now that that’s out the way, we can move on.
But yes, I created this blog now because I am of that particular age when maybe, just maybe, I have a few things to say that might be worthwhile to someone. Of course, I think there was probably always something of value in what I’ve said. At least to myself, and possibly even others close to me. But now, maybe I have something of value to those of you out there who don’t know me at all.
As a beginning place for you, check out the section about me, and then read a few of my entries. If it doesn’t suit your tastes, you haven’t really wasted much time. If it does, then let’s have a little fun. And of course, you can always comment on my postings. But keep it civil, fun and positive. Life is too short for negative diatribes. As now at my age, I’m truly discovering.
So, why is this ‘The Mystic Cowboy?’ First of all, the unseen but felt world has intrigued me most of my life. Once having a fair amount of experience with it, the ‘Mystic’ part seemed natural. As far as the ‘Cowboy’ that is less enigmatic. I grew up in Texas, loved playing ‘Cowboys and Indians’ as a kid, plus shooting my cap gun and watching ‘Gunsmoke’ on the boob tube (I actually got to have an email exchange with James Arness, ‘Matt Dillon’ in that TV drama, before he passed – that really made my year). But of course, it runs deeper than that. I’ve never been a real cowboy (at least in this life – yup that’s another entry), and I’ve certainly never punched cows, or even rode horses much, or let alone even known many real cowboys.
I guess it was mostly about the romantic idea of being of the ‘cowboy spirit’. You know, that independent, loner, self-sufficient white-hat hero riding off into the sunset after saving the town from the bad guys. Don’t we all in some type of way want to fulfill that type of mythic role? Well, maybe not all of us, but I always did, even if in some small way. I always wanted to be ‘Shane’ riding off from the town and family as the strong, quiet hero at the end of that mythic western starring Alan Ladd. “Shane! Shane!” as Brandon De Wilde yelled so many times, and Shane never looking back, only moving on and on towards a destiny we never could share with him beyond that point. Of course, the rumors were that Shane had actually been wounded in that last fight and went off to die by himself, like all heroic cowboys are supposed to. At least in the dramatic worlds, but I wonder if that is so in the real world.
Anyway, you get the drift. I’m talking about a romantic mythic icon here. So now here we are with a quaint mixture of mysticism and the mythic loner hero, along with my own formula of spicy inner musings making ‘The Mystic Cowboy’ whatever it is. We’ll see how well we do with that as we progress through time’s grandly elusive dimension. Enjoy!
(Today also marks another anniversary. Something very important happened to me exactly 40 years ago today. I will go into that in a future post.)