The Cowboy effect IV-Becoming a Desperado

The cowboy is a man of many skills…
And I am not going to write about this in the past tense, because there are still cowboys out there, who fill the term.
It takes a lifetime of training, from young up, in order to become one.
Let us have a glimpse of just some of those skills.

Horse-riding, that goes far beyond average... And naturally all that comes with it, like horse-taming, caretaking, changing their “shoes”, maintenance of riding equipment…
The outdoor life requires extensive knowhow for the use of the knife, the gun and the rifle… Turning the rope into a lasso for catching and controlling horses and cows is one more thing to add…
And then there is the camping in the wild, which is an art on its own, for those who know what I mean… Hunting, fishing, building fences and the list goes on…
Most of those abilities are to be used while riding on the saddle!

Historically speaking, the art of becoming a cowboy came down from the Mexican Vaqueros, who preceded the western cowboy by far…
We should keep in mind that most of the western settlers were in a sense “cowboys” because the skills mentioned above were common to most. Likewise the term is attributed to many women who for one reason or another, had to or chose to, become cowgirls!

When a cowboy became an outlaw he was often referred to as Desperado.
A loose interpretation of the term desperado would be: “the one without hope” or even “the desperate one”…
This was usually attributed to outlaws of the old West, who were wanted by the law for some crime… anything among killing, steeling and so on and so forth.
When a desperado was on the run, he would lead a life of constant move from one place to another, and from one town to the next, hoping that he would not be recognized as wanted.
This drifter’s kind of life would become a habit, because besides escaping the law, every new place where he would not be recognized, would open for him a new opportunity for what he did best…

Trouble with the law, was not the only trouble for a desperado. You see, beside marshals and sheriffs who were after him, bounty-hunters and all kinds of opportunists were only too happy to contribute to the hunt… And thus, gain a profit from the man on the poster who had a price on his head…
Last but not least, could a desperado trust a friend? Of course he could. Until things went sour and his “friend” decided to turn him in. And that happened a lot.

As you can see, if you were a desperado, things were pretty much… desperate, so to speak! And your best companions in order to ride with, and to rely on, were your knife, your guns and your silver dollars.

Run like a hunted man…
Very much like a cowboy, a Martial Artist is (or is supposed to be if you like!) a person of many skills. No true Martial Art is simple, especially Aikido. Put in plain words, one must be “good” at a great number of things.
Taking up the practice of Aikido brings with it the constant contact with Aikido teachers, trainers and masters. And sooner or later one will come across those who are really exceptional in what they do, because they are not all the same, that’s for sure. It does not even take a skilled eye to tell them apart…
But it surely takes a truly thirsty student, who will be willing to do the “whatever it takes” maneuver, in order to be taught by them. A student that will set himself apart and actually dedicate himself into learning Aikido rather than “doing” Aikido…
To give a short example, the usual first approach for an average student is to look for a “close by to my house” Dojo. That is one way to go.
But the…“desperate kind of student” will approach all possible Dojos, in order to join what he can possibly find, and not just what is near to him! You see where I’m getting at?!

A skilled Martial Artist can offer the technical training, and a view of the world, that will possibly transform your attitude in a way that nobody else can. 
He can practically “derail” you from your track, into a free and full of possibilities journey, that you could not come close even to imagine…
But to pursue that kind of quality, is very unlikely to involve the measurement of Google’s closest distance from your house!

Putting this down in… cowboy terms, becoming a skilled Martial Artist is a long ride on horseback my cowboy (or cowgirl). And in this journey sometimes it is not enough to have “good intentions” because they won’t be enough to get you through the rough and unfriendly terrain. Many times “good intentions” are found on the wrong side of the right attitude. So, it is very possible that you will also need to adopt the spirit of a man who is desperately on the run…
In short, you will have to become a Desperado!
And no, you won’t have to rob, steal or kill.
But you will need to extract from you every ounce of skill.
In the end, that is the only thing that is truly yours to have, while riding alone into the sunset…

 I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
Wanted, dead or alive
(Song by Jon Bon Jovi)

March 14, 2017