Roy Rogers’ Rules to Live By

Had an eye appointment the other day to check on the progress of my cataracts, one of those inevitable perks of aging, at Dr. Avery Rush’s office in Amarillo. Dr. Rush’s examination rooms are all decorated in theme-based styles. I have been in the Elvis room, the James Dean room, the mystery-writer’s room, the Coca-Cola room, the Texas Longhorn room, and others I am sure I have forgotten. But this time I was in the Western Cowboy Actors’ room. Posters and memorabilia celebrating Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid and Pancho, to name a few, lined the walls and filled shelves and end tables. One framed document caught my eye-The Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules. And about that time, the doctor came in, so I sat down for the visit with him that had brought me here in the first place. But upon returning home, I googled Roy Rogers Riders Club. Now, I grew up with Roy Rogers and Trigger and the whole gang, probably more to covet Trigger and Buttermilk, Dale Evans’ horse, than to get involved in the story, but I don’t remember anything about a Riders Club. Surely I would have become a member and would have grown up with a certificate or something to prove it. At any rate, I found the rules, which are:

1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all that you can.
7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.  

How can you possibly argue with that?  Words to live by. I have no idea if Roy Rogers actually came up with that list himself or what, and I don’t know that it matters, because  the objectives of the rules certainly befit his image as the King of the Cowboys and his quest to do the right thing and could guide us all to do the right thing. I couldn’t help but be struck by the common sense and directness of each rule. I know Roy Rogers comes from a simpler time, when life might, to us now, seem less complicated, and we would most likely laugh at his movies now,  but really, wouldn’t life more or less fall into place if we all followed his rules?
I am convinced that we would find Happy Trails  more often if we did. So. Till we meet again. http://www.royrogersworld.com/RidersClubRules.htm  12/27/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wili/Roy_Rogers  12/31/2012 bing.com/images Images of Roy Rogers   12/31/2012