Manners

CODE OF THE WEST: For the few of you that read this blog, I have not left, just don't post as often since I returned to full time employment. And while that is not the purpose of this posting, my returning to work, I will mention it in a passing fashion during this blog. As to the first line. there used to be one. A code. still is, mostly. So I'll quote this poem and then elaborate a bit.
It don't take such a lot o' laws to keep the range land straight
Nor books to write 'em in, 'cause there are only six or eight
The first one is the welcome sign, written deep in western hearts
My camp is yours and yours is mine in all cow country parts
Treat with respect all women kind, same as you would your sister
Care for neighbors' strays you find, and don't call cowboys Mister
Shut the pasture gates when passin' through, and taking all in all
Be just as rough as pleases you, but don't be mean or small
Talk straight, shoot straight, never break your word to man or hoss
Plumb always kill a rattlesnake, don't ride a sore back hoss
It don't take law nor pedigree to live the best you can
These few is all it takes to be a cowboy and a man
Author Unknown
Cowboys have always wore hats. The style of hat sometimes varies from area to area, but they are still worn. Now a days, hats are becoming more of an item to ward of the sun, because more people are aware of the likely hood of skin cancer, especially here in the Southwest. Along with the poem quoted above, there was a hat etiquette that cowboys practised. It used to be common for hats to be checked at the door of a public place, such as restaurants. That has mostly become obsolete, so here are some thoughts on how to wear your hat today.
One hat maker has written on the back of his business card "Take it off at the table, leave it on at the bar, and treat it like your sweetheart." Trent Johnson of Greely Hat Works. While the hats off at the dinner table used to be a hard and fast rule, many cowboys now leave it on when dining at a public restaurant. However, you should remove it when entering a private residence, a house of worship, or a business meeting. And around the ladies? While the days when men were expected to remove them when a lady enters the room has kinda disappeared, it is still good manners to do so, and it is mostly appreciated, even if it is unexpected. It is also not a bad practice to tip your hat to the ladies in public. In a respectful manner.
So what does any of this have to do with me returning to work? Simple. Many of the men I work with are very disrespectful of the ladies. Their language is crude and lewd at best, and the ladies in the crew are disregarded or treated as one of the boys by most of the men on the crew.
And as a last thought. Manners as a general rule seems to have gone the way of rotary phones and typewriters. You can still find them, but they are in the minority. When people return to the cowboy way of life, in the country or the city, showing respect for your neighbors and your neighbors property, curbing foul language, and treating ladies with the respect they deserve, especially your spouse, then the country will be on track to return to the kind of country we would all like to live in. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

View From The Ditch Bank

MANNERS--For those few of you that have been reading this blog from the first, or those other few that may have come around later, but actually scrolled back to the original post, you may remember that I said that I would not post about my life, at least not very often. And I will not, very often, but on occasion, I will. And today is one of those occasions. Kinda. I think we are not the only ones who get those phone calls that interrupt you when you least expect it. Only now, they are getting to kinda be expected. You know the ones. Wanting you to subscribe to something, or buy something. I have actually answered some of them lately. Mostly not. They always come from some other state, but mostly New York, Florida, or Kentucky, according to the caller ID. One I answered the other day the caller ID said New York, but the man I talked to said he was in Nevada. Oh, OK, like that makes a difference. He wanted me to sign up for some health insurance. And when he started the phone call, he started calling me by my first name. ME: Uh do we know each other? HIM: No but ( my first name again ) I just wanted to tell you about this insurance program. ME: If we are not acquainted, my name is Mr. Lee ( that's the name I use for this blog ) and you can use that name until we become better acquainted. HIM: OK. Well, the upshot of that conversation is that I said no to his proposal. Then a call a day or so later from Florida. ME: Hello HIM: ( my first name ) I want to help you with --------- ME: Are we acquainted? HIM: no, but ME: well, until we are you can use my last name. I am an old man and when I was growing up, it was proper and good manners to not call people by their first name unless you were good friends of the same age and allowed to do so. HIM: Well, times change. ME: Yes, you are correct, but good manners do not. They might be ignored, but they do not change. He used my last name, reluctantly, for the duration of that call. Which did not last long, as I wasn't interested in what he was trying to sell me. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and as I wrote in my original blog, am happy to say so and to be so. In the Church we call each other Brother and Sister as a matter of respect, and only among really good friends do we use other terms of address. And I am an old man, and am very sorry to see that good manners are going by the way side. I hope that there are some young people out there that feel the same way and will start a movement to bring back good manners. And That's the View From The Ditch Bank.