Western Value

I’ll admit it; I’m a sucker for a good Western—movie or book. I was raised on Westerns. Good old Westerns were the staple for movies. Every year I could expect a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie (and they were good) and new Western Historical Romances came out at least once a month. TV was dotted with Western series—Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Alias Smith and Jones, even Kung Fu.

There’s not near enough of them anymore. I guess we’ve moved past them. The world is too fast, too connected, too far past those days, those old-fashioned values. I, for one, miss the Western and all it brought.

Even the music has changed. I’m a big fan of the new country music, but I do enjoy going back to its roots, now and again.

It comes down to what’s so often missing in the world today. There is less silence and while we’re more connected, that connection is so much less personal. Business is more about bottom line and less about customer satisfaction. How productive you are is more important than how well you do your job. How fast and cheap something can be made is more important than quality. The profit margin more important than the true value.

A writer’s platform is much more publishable than the writer’s writing. So many books are published, anymore, because of the author’s name and notoriety, instead of writing skills.

There’s not a lot we can do about all this. I’m afraid the change is permanent. Those growing up now, don’t know. They have no reason to mourn, but I keep searching for Western values, movies and books.

I’m hearing wonderful things about the remake of True Grit, this time with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn. Though it’s hard to imagine anyone doing justice to Wayne’s Cogburn, if anyone can do it Bridges can.

Well, as John Wayne said in The Cowboys: “We’re burning daylight.” And, I figure if I can’t find it, I’ll write it myself. And that’s the best a writer can do, write the book she wants to read and hope someone else will love it.