Everyone has a hero; when I was a kid the Lone Ranger was mine. I could have chosen Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, Gene Autry or Hopalong Cassidy, but they were too phony. For my hero I wanted the real thing. That’s why I chose The Lone Ranger and his Indian friend Tonto. You can’t beat a combination like that.
I have eaten many a bowl of Wheaties because the Lone Ranger told his gang that if we ate Wheaties, we would grow up to be big and strong like he was and probably have an Indian friend (at that age having an Indian friend was good enough for me).
When I went to Viet Nam, as a platoon leader, the platoon would often be out in the middle of nowhere looking for bad guys, better known as Viet Cong (VC). We would come up on trails; squad leaders who had been on line for months could tell how many VC had been through and how long ago. I felt like the Lone Ranger and they were Tonto. First of all, I thought they were putting me on, but I soon found out they were right much of the time.
I imagine, I came a lot closer to action than the Lone Ranger and Tonto ever thought was possible, as this was not stage 17, or wherever they taped their show.
Over the years I have progressed from one hero to the next one and left Wheaties for Cheerios. I guess that’s progress (always looking for the right combination).
But for the last 30 years and, for that matter, today, my hero has been Will Rogers. The director of the Will Rogers Memorial, Laurence Peter, stated, “Will Rogers was the greatest communicator America has ever produced. He excelled in every field of communications that existed during his lifetime.
People in America and throughout the world listened to Will (he died in a plane crash in 1935) as the voice of America. He was considered the workingman philosopher.
Will wanted the laugh, but he wanted people to think about the topics of the day. He once said he was more interested in getting people to think than getting a laugh. Hearing Rogers speak, people realized that he was making a point about something that needed to be said. He always tried to represent the poor and the middle class. He once remarked the majority of the population of this country was in the school of poverty, which was probably true.
Much of the material he used in the 1930’s applies today. Here is a sample:
“Well, we got so many educated now that there is not enough jobs for the educated people. Most of our work is skilled and requires practice rather than an education.” – 7/31/32
“A Ford and a marriage certificate are two of the cheapest things there are. We no more than get either one than paid for and we want to trade them in for something better.” – 6/1/30
“There is something about a Republican politician. They are smart, but they just don’t know much.7/4/34
“You’ve got to be optimist to be a Democrat, and you’ve got to be a humorist to stay one. -7/24/24
