Our Fall of the Cowboy posits a deeper rumination of what it means to embody the spirit of a cowboy, and for many the deeper question for a cowboy comes to the choice between romance, love and partnership or independent solitude and going through life alone. It speaks to the greater question of how much we’re willing to give up in order to get what we think we want. The problem with love is that eventually it requires compromise and negotiation, and a cowboy doesn’t need or want to bother with such stuff. They do what they want, when and how they want, and there’s no one to answer to, and no need to discuss further. There is also a definite cost, often a very high cost.
The question for all of us is how much of it is worth it if you are someone who wants to be alone? If you can do anything you want to do are you willing to give that up to be with someone? Strange that a cowboy should conjure such questions in modern-life, but that’s one of the thrilling ways this theme resonates in so many of our lives.
Some might question how true of a cowboy they are if they need another person: the nature of a cowboy is to not need anyone. This may not hold true for all cowboys, but it is certainly the case for the cowboy in our upcoming fall tale.
The Fall of the Cowboy is a love story. It’s a story about choosing to be with someone instead of choosing to be alone. A cowboy most often chooses solitude, with notable exceptions when he wants to get laid. Cowboys make very good lovers in the physical sense. Anyone unavailable and aloof is somehow hotter. Cowboys often have a great deal of practice when it comes to lovemaking, yet cowboys make awful lovers in the emotional sense. The death of the cowboy comes whenever he falls in love and chooses another person over his cowboy nature.
The Fall of the Cowboy is also about choosing to go through life alone, being completely true to yourself and to what you want without thinking of anyone else. It wholeheartedly embraces the notion that sharing a life with someone means giving up independence, not entirely, not completely, but in some essential ways, and the decision becomes whether you’re going to be entirely self-sufficient or allow your heart to rely on someone else. There are dangers inherent in both and I am not in any way proposing one over the other. These are just choices we all have to make. The Cowboy is a rugged example and sample for the more subtle and refined emotions all humans eventually experience.
