The Cowboy effect II-Stranger…

Sometimes (but rarely) I like to leave a little mystery on certain things. So in this occasion, knowing where it first came from, where it was originated or how it came down to us, is of no importance…  
We talk about the sign-epigraphs that welcome a stranger at the entrance of a village or town. And I just find them magnificent…

Ancient Greeks used them a lot, but personally I was introduced to them when I was a kid, through one of my favorite heroes, Lucky Luke!
All of Lucky Luke’s magazine issues are full of towns, which have hilarious sign-epigraphs, welcoming strangers… And most of them had a flavor as far from a welcome as they could be…

Here are just a few, just for the fun of it (nothing official to it, I put those down from memory):

“Stranger…
If you came to find gold
you might find lead instead”

“Stranger…
Our graveyard
is full of strangers…”

“Stranger…
Our town has 347 residents
and you’re not one of them”

“Stranger…
This is our town’s entrance
make sure you make it to the exit”

“Stranger…
We are friendly people
and you can stay as long as you like
until sunset”

“Stranger…
We are very nervous with guns
that is, with our guns!”

“Stanger…
If you are close enough to read this sign
we already have you in our sight
Our gun-sight!”

We usually attribute to “a stranger” everything that is… strange and often many of our inner and outer fears.
So, as they say, we don’t have any problems with strangers and some of our best friends are strangers. The only problem is that those strangers are not from around here!
Here comes a stranger! So, what do we do now?!
We simply warn him, or shoot at him and then warn him…
A stranger is he who we don’t know… he’s different… and who knows what else he will bring with him…
He might be evil or twisted… a robber or a murderer… a rapist or a child-molester… an outlaw or a convict… a suspicious person with a dark past and foreign ideas. Or even worse, he might be a carrier of some sickness or disease… Above all this, one thing is for certain! A stranger is an outsider and for sure not one of us…   
It is no coincidence that we teach our children not to talk to strangers. A stranger means danger… Bang, bang!

My all time favorite “stranger epigraph” is the following:

Stranger…
If one thing
we don’t like any strangers…

…and how can you beat that?!
I’ve never have realized or remembered it until this moment, but when I “introduced myself” in The Book In Between as “Nobody” the other option I was thinking about, with my fountain-pen in mid-air, was “Stranger”…

I cannot (and care not to) explain, why I like this dark sarcasm so much…Through the years the thought has crossed my mind to put the above epigraph up at my front door, as a permanent “welcome” for anyone who would come… And maybe, every now and then, talk harshly through the intercom to any new friend who doesn’t yet know me that well, telling them: “Hit the road stranger, can’t you see the sign?!” Accompanied with a little shooting (blanks!) would make a good “film” to put up on the net, for great laughs…
The only problem is the following… If you ask me for which people I feel and care most about, I would answer you with no hesitation: A perfect stranger!
Thus, my stranger’s sign will have to be postponed…
Isn’t that strange?!

May 9, 2011