Cowboy Code teaches respect for women

Cowboy Code teaches respect for women

Editor,

Growing up on the farm and working cows since I was 6, I always like to think of myself as a cowboy and a follower of the Cowboy Code.

Yes, I did have a horse, but on Strawberry Ridge Road the terrain never was very conducive to rounding up cows on a horse. When I tried it a few times, I ended up on the ground as much as when I was rounding them up on foot. Which is probably a testament to my lack of cowboy talent, as well as a testament to my Shetland pony's natural behavior to run under low tree limbs.

But the Cowboy Code, and also my parents, taught me to always show respect to women. So in regard to all the goings on with the me-too movement and how women have been, and still are, mistreated and disrespected by the entertainment world, political world, college fraternities and, in some cases, even the religious world, I am so thankful that I was raised to always show respect.

I can remember hearing many sermons on the chapter in Corinthians that talks about how women should treat their husbands. And, yes, I have missed more than a few Sundays in church, but rarely have I heard a sermon on the next chapter where it talks about how husbands should treat their wives. Even in the Old Testament, we learn that Moses granted a divorce to some women because he knew their husbands were mistreating them.

Seems the women these days are trying really hard to stand up and make the men more accountable for their behavior. I hope things will change in our society, but I don't believe they really will until more men start holding men accountable for their behavior. Real men need to remember that every woman in this world is someone's mother, wife, daughter or sister. And we better be treating every woman like she is.

I guess I've started wondering why, in general, in the workplace, business world, schools, universities, churches, communities, they don't seem to have a code for how to treat women and hold those accountable who don't, as the Cowboy Code does.

Maybe it's just that too many leaders in the world were never taught, therefore they don't how to lead by example.

Robert Honderich,

Gravette