Cowboy Compassion (The Pioneer Woman)

I can’t remember exactly what they were laughing at.

But I’m pretty sure it was their dad falling down.

Or someone falling down.

I’ve mentioned this before, but there is a common trait among cowboys that causes them to laugh when one of them falls down, gets run over by a steer, gets kicked by a calf, or gets run up onto a fence by a charging cow.

Here are some old examples I’ve come across.

Tim getting charged by a cow. He was fine. Everyone laughed.

Josh jumping over a fence to escape a cow. He was fine. Everyone laughed.

Caleb jumping up on the fence to escape a calf. He was fine. Everyone laughed.

As long as no one is hurt, everyone laughs.

And sometimes they laugh anyway…as long as the injuries require no hospitalization.

This is just another area of parenting that presents confusion here in the country. Here I am, trying to raise my kids to have compassion for others. To be sensitive to other people’s pain. To bear other people’s burdens. To offer help and assistance when others are troubled.

Then they hang out in the cattle pens for a couple of hours and it’s all blown to smithereens.

It is quite a dichotomy.

But in the end, I just have to trust that it will result in some crazy sense of balance.

Ranch-style compassion, I suppose.

Sympathy toward their fellow humans…but not their fellow cowboys.

I’ll keep you posted as the years go on…