The Code’s Free, What It Could Do Is Amazing

If I could learn to ride a horse, rope calves, sleep under the stars and get along with rattlesnakes, maybe I could become a cowboy. It was, after all, one of my earliest and fondest dreams, fueled by black-and-white television images of the likes of Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger.
Maybe that suppressed ambition explains why I like South-western food, find Native American music fascinating, and have, tucked away on my computer, a recipe for Navajo fry bread, which I have vowed to make “some day.”
Perhaps this would be an excellent time to consider enlisting in the county Technical School’s fall evening program. Among the new classes will be Frontier American Foods and South-western cooking. (For those and other course offerings, a sup-plement will be found stuffed inside today’s edition.)
According to Evening School Director Rusty Miller, the instructor of the Frontier American Foods course is spending time in and around the Grand Canyon getting to know more about the subject. Who knows, the chef may bring back recipes for such delicacies as buffalo (available in ShopRite) and black bean dip and more.
It wasn’t my intention to drum up students for the Tech School, but to focus on something of eeven wider importance: Returning to simple pioneer values.
Ever heard of “Living The Code Foundation?” The Long Beach, Calif. organization makes so much sense, it’s no won-der the mainstream media has ignored it.
Founder and president of the outfit is a chap, Dakota Live-say, editor of Chronicle of the Old West, a monthly newspaper filled with stories that Hopalong and his cowpoke buddies would have found most interesting, about Wild West crimes and stories illustrated by hand-drawn images.
Even more important than that is what “Living The Code Foundation” espouses, a call to return to the values of simpler, more honest times than we find ourselves in today.
“We started Living The Code Foundation because of a belief that the United State is a preeminent country today due to a code of ethics that was developed by pioneers during the 300 years we had a frontier. That code stressed ingenuity, creativity, self-reliance, cooperation, family and God,” according to Live-say’s release.
“And we are concerned that as we get farther in time from the last frontier…the one we commonly call the Old West, we’re losing those frontier characteristics.”
Livesay stated that the code was not written, but its elements are contained in seven precepts:
* Respect yourself and others.
* Accept responsibility for your life.
* Be positive and cheerful.
* Be a person of your word.
* Go the distance.
* Be fair in all your dealings.
* Be a good friend and neighbor.
He added that the foundation’s objective is “to develop educational materials and books for both young people and adults that show the importance of these precepts in our being the great country we are today, and our maintaining that greatness.”
“This isn’t a Republican or Democrat thing. It isn’t liberal or conservative. It’s an American thing,” Livesay stated.
Such a simple, straightforward code, adopted by every man and woman, boy and girl, would change our society.
Crime would be virtually eliminated, since everyone would respect him or herself. Those who first respect themselves hold others in equally high regard. A sense of self worth would go a long way to preventing theft or doing anything else that would bring shame to one’s family.
No longer would fingers be pointed, trying to shift the blame for one’s actions onto someone else. Each person would realize they were the captain of their own ship, fully accepting good and bad things that happen, not squirming out of tough calls.
Being positive and cheerful would spell doom for Spout Off, but it would do society a world of good.
A person of one’s word? Lawyers would see their incomes dwindle. Gone would be 50-page contracts with fine print replaced by a word and handshake. If they are not good enough, all the paper in the world won’t them any different.
Go the distance? That would translate into meaning what you said in a marriage ceremony, especially in sickness, “for worse” and “Til death us do part.” It would mean staying at work until the project is finished, working every day, even when it’s difficult, and being the one who puts the lights out at night.
Fair in all dealings? Even when it means you get the short end of the stick? Yes, even when you get the short end, be-cause that’s what is fair.
Being a good friend and neighbor? When the snow covers the old man’s sidewalk next door, you shovel it. When you know there’s trouble next door, offer a hand.
Midwestern towns still have people who smile at strangers, and who offer a hand in friendship. Here in the East, as I approach many in Court House, they cast their eyes to the side-walk, refusing to acknowledge me as a human being. Why?
There you have The Code. If you want to adopt it, go ahead. It won’t cost a penny. You won’t have to get government approval to start living it out each day.
The scariest thing may be the results you notice once you start living The Code. You may never be the same again, part-ner, and that would be a good thing.