Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Who WAS that Masked Man....?


Clayton Moore.
The Lone Ranger.
And his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, played by Jay Silverheels.
With their horses, Scout and Silver.
And, even now, I can never hear the finale of Rossini's William Tell Overture without wanting to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.

As a little kid, I always liked it that the Ranger wore a mask, so that his good deeds were anonymous, and that he never stuck around for a "thank you" after saving somebody's grits.  I admired that he used bullets made of silver to remind himself that life was precious -- even the bad guy's life -- and that he didn't shoot to kill, but to disarm, a practice that may be of extremely limited tactical utility in real life.

Funny thing, Moore and Silverheels apparently came to take their parts --- and their position as "role models" for us kids -- very seriously.

Three parts of the "Lone Ranger Creed" that stuck with me:
 
  • that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
  • being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
  • that all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.


 Like the Lone Ranger, I sometimes wear a mask.
Unlike the Lone Ranger, I am sometimes, of moral imperative, an outlaw.

aac

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