20/07/2024
We are a product of our own making. At the end of the day, we must own our choices. We cannot blame our parents, our trauma, the economy, the political tone, or anything else. If we are to change our path, we must own and accept it. It is up to each of us to make the right choices. This poem sums it up pretty well.
“There’s a scene in a western movie
That hit me like a knife.
It really got me thinkin’
About the way I’ve lived my life.
There was this cowboy feller
Who was a travelin’ through the land.
Somehow it seems he found himself
Thrown in with an outlaw band.
I don’t suppose it would be too wrong,
If with these fellers I ride.
I’ll just keep their company a little while,
‘till I reach the other side.
Soon they stole some horses
And they killed some men for fun.
Ol’ Jake knew he was in too deep,
But he’s too scared to run.
Jake’s friends were Texas Rangers
And soon they caught the gang.
Saddened that it fell their lot,
Their old pard they’d have to hang.
Gus’s eyes filled up with tears
As they strung him up with twine.
“I’m sorry that I crossed it” Jake said,
“but I never saw the line.”
So keep your eyes wide open
When you think about old Jake
‘Cause we really are responsible
For the choices that we make.
No matter what society says,
Here’s what the story gleans:
It’s a truth now-a-days too soon forgot....
but, the end, don’t justify the means.”
© 2005 Ken Howry-A Cowboy in The Kingdom
