Mourning Cow Boy Hats. Bear with me, this isn't trivial.
I was a kid in the 50s. The TV Cow Boys of that era taught me everything I needed to know about responsibility, bravery, good citizenship, community, leaderships, and, I suspect a whole lot more. From Lash Larue to Sky King, from The Lawman to Cheyenne, from The Big Valley to the Ponderosa, from Wagon Train to Rawhide I was taught to trust The Hat to take care of whatever was needed to be done (except for the bad guys, of course, life was simpler then.)
Then life happened and that trust began to have a few dents. Nothing serious, but over the years a few nicks and chips. Walker, Texas Ranger was probably the first time I allowed true, deep distrust to creep into my faith in the hat. Ammon Bundy and his crew did a pretty good job of making me think twice about the myths, but still, I could persist in holding onto the basics.
I seriously needed those beliefs that churned around The Cow Boy Hat. They were foundational philosophy. Everything sort of sat on top of them.
Those hats are shot full of holes now. The philosophy and beliefs that went with them are like like horse shit on a dusty dirt street. Just something to step around.
How I will fill those empty spaces I'm not sure. They are very old and very deep in my psyche as they are for many, many others.
The children killed I will mourn today and tomorrow and beyond. The Cow Boy Hat myths I will probably still be mourning on my death bed. Deep in my psyche there are some very large, empty holes.
I hate growing up, but I hate it even more when I'm in my mid 70s. I will need to fill in those empty holes. I just know it won't be with cow boy hats.
I know I'm not the only one. Over the years I've found myself time and again being the voice of ordinary people. So I'll suck it up once again and speak about what I fear are unpopular topics. These feelings need a voice.
= new reply since forum marked as read
gotten outlandish recently..
Maybe they want them super big to make themselves look super tall or something
The DPS Troopers also wear them, but they aren't as crazy looking. State Troopers are basically the same as state troopers in any state. I have no idea why the Rangers wear those awful 20 gallon hats.
I can see the troopers because they're out in the sun and the hats act as visors. For the Rangers it's all about cosplay.
Murder, robbery, sexual assault, burglary, theft and fraud
bank fraud
theft by credit card and computer generated counterfeit checks
misuse of criminal history information
misconduct and corruption of public officials
threats against the governor and other state and federal officials
missing persons, parental abductions, questionable deaths and unidentified bodies
Activities of the Texas Ranger Division consist primarily of conducting criminal and special investigations, apprehending wanted felons, suppressing major disturbances, protection of life and property, and rendering assistance to local law enforcement officials in suppressing crime and violence. https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/texas-rangers/ranger-responsibilities
I know it's not easy to get into the Rangers.
If they're such an elite group, why do they wear those gawd awful hats??
They also have a history of racial violence.
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/books/2020/06/03/the-texas-rangers-didnt-invent-police-brutality-says-the-author-of-a-new-book-they-perfected-it/
Doug J. Swanson’s new book arrives at an extraordinary time in American history. Its official publication date is June 9, barely two weeks removed from the killing of George Floyd. A 46-year-old black man, Floyd died in police custody after a white officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck, igniting protests across the country.
Swanson’s new book is Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers, who began in 1823 as a 10-man volunteer squad raised to protect the first American settlers in the Mexican territory of Texas. The Rangers, in Swanson’s words, “functioned as executioners” whose “job was to seize and hold Texas for the white man.” In the same way that author Gerald Posner’s latest book, Pharma, arrived on March 10, three days before the coronavirus provoked a national emergency, and with one of its chapters titled “The Coming Pandemic,” Swanson sees Cult of Glory as being “very timely.”
Eerily so.
“The nation reels anew,” Swanson says from his home in Pittsburgh, where the 34-year veteran of The Dallas Morning News now teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh. “But it’s an old story: white police officers killing men and women of color. Some of the very worst of it happened a little over 100 years ago, along the Texas-Mexico border. There, the Texas Rangers — the vaunted official force of the Lone Star State — didn’t invent police brutality. But they perfected it. Operating as what we would now term death squads, they executed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.
“Some of those killed were bandits who attacked white-owned farms and ranches. But many of the dead had committed no crimes. They were guilty only of having brown skin. Or they lived on land that white ranchers wanted to steal. The Rangers obliged by beating and shooting them.”
snip
equals
Truth to tell though I liked Pat and Nelly Bell best. There has always been something a bit off about me. 
how to kill them damn injuns. 
Sorry, but getting all you need to know from a tv cowboy is sad. 
