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July 25, 2008 - 12:31AM
Our View: Hats off to cowboys everywhere
Tribune Editorial
Hold your horses, pardner. We ain't going to let the American cowboy just disappear into the sunset of history.
No siree, we're going to honor the honest, hard-working men and women who conquered the West with their lariats, their six-shooters and their trusty horses.
That's why communities across Arizona and other parts of the United States have started to celebrate The National Day of the Cowboy. The movement was started in 2004 by American Cowboy magazine, which says the fourth Saturday of July should be aside each year to recognize the many good contributions of those Westerners who work the land and raise the cattle, even as their numbers keep dropping as the decades roll by.
The U.S. Senate has repeatedly passed resolutions supporting the movement. But so far the "cowboy president," George W. Bush, has resisted making a national declaration.
Perhaps that's best, as true cowboys always have resented anyone from Washington trying to tell them what to do or when to do it. Inspired by the cowboy's independent spirit, we can come together on our own to relive the memories of the American West. Several East Valley communities including Apache Junction, Gold Canyon and Florence will do so this weekend, with some events getting under way today. Oddly, Scottsdale, which for decades has billed itself "The West's Most Western Town," isn't holding a public celebration.
Of course, these jubilations will recall the myths and not the reality of Western life, as cowboys really aren't all that much different from the rest of us. Some would give you their last shirt off their own backs; others would just as soon shoot you as look at you.
But good or bad, cowboys always had the freedom to chart their own destinies. And more often than not, cowboys have showed how respect and integrity brought good rewards while dirty dealing and back-stabbing would get you sent to Boot Hill, or at least to the Yuma Territorial Prison.
So we take our hats off for everyone who is taking part this year in The National Day of the Cowboy.
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