Mar
Wild West to Wild Man
If you look at some of the more famous Western gunfighters, you cannot escape one salient fact. Those fellows all had a knack for trouble. They placed themselves in dangerous situations and enjoyed being there. Johnny Ringo faced trial several times for murders committed all over Texas. Wyatt Earp and his brothers moved from town to town, always finding themselves in another quarrel. The same was true of their notorious rivals from the O.K. Corral gunfight, the Clantons. We see these strings of trouble following many Western figures.
Aside from military experience, how many gunfights have you had?
There are people who have a way of getting themselves into trouble. They find it. If they move to another town in hopes of a fresh start, they invariably cause as much trouble and end up with the same kind of people as before. Trouble only ceases when they cease the behavior that evokes it. That means making a change for the better.
Years ago, there was an expression: “geographic cure.” It meant just what I implied in the above paragraph. It was a move to a new place, hoping that one’s troubles would end there. Geographic cures sound promising, but they in variably fail because it is not the place that causes woe. It is the person. He continues his trail of unhappiness because wherever he goes, he brings himself.
The lesson is clear: to change your world, change yourself. Your experiences are caused by you. If you do not like the results, look at yourself. YOU are where the change needs to be made.
