As an only child born to elderly parents, I was protected from other children, the “cold” of Tucson (huh?) and anything else my parents thought might be damaging to me. Until I was 16 years old, I had very few peer friends and my parents, Charles & Pauline, felt that television was detrimental and maybe sinful; therefore, we did not own one. (They may have had a point)!

After school, I would listen to western radio programs, do my chores and read. (Sounds like I was bored and lonely, right?) I don’t remember being either! I loved reading about my heroes and my favorite of all was Roy Rogers. I wanted to be like Roy Rogers. I wanted to BE Roy Rogers. I love and have owned horses partially because my hero loved horses.

I was a member of the Roy Rogers Rider’s Club. We had 10 rules we aspired to follow:

Roy Rogers Rider’s Rules

1. Be Neat & Clean
2. Be Courteous & Polite
3. Always Obey Your Parents
4. Protect the Weak & Help Them
5. Be Brave, But Never Take Chances
6. Study Hard & Learn All You Can
7. Be Kind to Animals & Take Care of Them
8. Eat All Your Food & Never Waste Any (I was really good with this one)!
9. Love God & Go to Church
10. Always Respect Our Flag & Our Country

Where did my values come from? Probably from the surrounding culture of the desert southwest, my wonderful attentive parents, friends, church teaching, school teachers and yes – my “Heroes”!

I believe we emulate the heroes we attach our heart and minds to while we’re young. Maybe if we weren’t fortunate to have “healthy” heroes while we were young, we now can look and find values we “want” to emulate.

Heroes are perfect when you’re young, not so when you’re an adult.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah & a wonderful 2010!

Dave