My country was one that John Wayne loved. It’s gone now. The culture has changed.
One of the first films I recall is John Ford’s “The Searchers” made in 1956 starring John Wayne. The image of him standing in the doorway in the last scene burned into my young mind. This was a real man, who went his own way, imperfect; but always trying to do the right thing.
Maybe this is one reason we spend so much time in Utah. Wayne was in dozens films made there. Maybe we are searching for what we lost? We know it feels comforting to be where he was. It feels just as good to be with people that respect the Constitution – and Mormons certainly do that.
The 60’s changed a lot of people, myself included. The turmoil gave birth to a new generation of “progressives”. It also killed off the real men, first in Hollywood and then across the country. We no longer have the John Wayne’s, Robert Mitchum’s, Paul Neuman’s. Now what passes for “men” wear too big sweats with a ball cap on backwards.
Elizabeth Taylor Warner stated when testifying in favor of the special gold medal Congress struck for him: "He gave the whole world the image of what an American should be."
That was then. We are now in the Katie Couric era. A few dinosaurs surrounded by know nothing liberals.
"There's right and there's wrong," Duke said in The Alamo. "You gotta do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but in reality you're dead."
As it was
What we have now
No comments:
Post a Comment