Thought for the day… - Posted by Ed Garcia
Posted by Ed Garcia on March 04, 2001 at 09:58:38:
Thought for the day?.
Today’s “Thought for the day” is brought to you courtesy of Mr. Ray Alcorn.
A while back I had brought up the Lone Ranger in a post of mine and Mr. Alcorn answered with this wonderful answer. I share it with you because I think this is a demonstration of Principles, Ethics, Right or Wrong, Balance of knowing who we are, what we are, and what we stand for. These standards can also be set as a platform to do business. I often share with you, something that has touched me. Ray and I were raised in a world that sometime seems distant, and it shouldn’t be. That’s why I’m sharing this with you.
Hi Ed,
Funny you should post that.
This past week I was touched by the passing of Clayton Moore, whom I remember as the one and only “Lone Ranger.” His death stirred memories for me of countless Saturday mornings spent laying on the floor in front of the television watching cartoons. On our local stations, several westerns and half-hour dramas followed the morning cartoons. I would time my getting ready for the day’s play so that I could be dressed and ready to go before “Sky King” came on, another favorite, followed by the grand finale for the day, that week’s installment of The Lone Ranger. To me, he was the epitome of whatever notion I had at the time of a good man. Issues of right and wrong, character and consequences were always the central focus of the show. The principles that governed the outcomes were summarized in “The Lone Ranger Creed”, which is what your post reminded me of. I had forgotten that creed until the newspaper reporting the story printed it as a sidebar.
The biggest attraction of the show for me was the repeated triumph of the Lone Ranger against seemingly overwhelming odds. Even as a youngster, I seemed to have been drawn to achieving what “wiser” minds said couldn’t be done. Put simply, I have often found myself swimming upstream against a strong breeze, with a crowd on shore yelling for me to get out of the water lest I drown. The perseverance and persistence displayed by the Lone Ranger and Tonto was for me confirmation that one person can and does make a difference, and that if you “did good”, you would “get good”. That we are punished for bad behavior by the bad consequences that result. That bad things can happen to good people, but they can prevail and even benefit from the experience. Those were powerful lessons that I carry with me to this day. Over the years I have seen many more eloquent and trendy books, tapes and programs on the subjects, but the simple principles espoused in the creed are as true today as on those Saturday mornings so long ago. Like you, I have fallen far short of the precepts, but I hold firmly the aspiration for progress toward the ideal.
With that framing my vision for this new millennium, I pass on a nugget from the one just past.
The Lone Ranger Creed
"I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That ‘This government, of the people, by the people and for the people’ shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later… somewhere…somehow… we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man."
The Lone Ranger
(written by Fran Striker)
Ed Garcia