Musings from Louis L’Amour- What We Can Learn

I spend most of my free time reading and writing letters. It gives me time to ponder and figure out what positive message can I learn from the writer. One of my favorite authors is Louis L’Amour, who wrote about strong independent characters and the obstacles they overcame in their life.

"Was the America of my youth made of sterner stuff?" The vision of America that I grew up with is reflected in the western novels written by Louis L'Amour. I enjoy the storytelling tradition in these western tales, and I can relate to the self-reliant people described in Louie's fiction about the wild west. I wonder, "Are the days of rugged individualism behind us?"

Below are several of my favorite Louis L'Amour quotes sprinkled throughout his novels and in no particular order:

From his novel, 'Ride the River,' comes this gem, "Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else." It is a fabulous description of how precious is our time.

"I know folks who think wild things are sweet and cuddly, but they've never come into a henhouse after a weasel has been there. He (the weasel) can drink the blood of only one or two, but often as not he'll kill every one of them. Wolves will do it in a pen of lambs, too. There are savage beasts in the world, and men who are just as savage." writes L'Amour. I believe this is a perfect description of the world, and an apt description of natural law.

Try this one on for size. "Where I come from, a body took care of himself and did not look to other folks for protection or even help. If it came, and it often did, then you accept it and returned the favor when you had the chance, only you did not look for it or expect it." insists L'Amour. This sound like responsible behavior and self-reliance.

When it comes to books, "Each book must be one worth rereading many times, each a book that has much to say, that can lend meaning to life, help in decisions, comfort one during moments of loneliness. One needs a chance to listen to the words of other men who have lived their lives, to share with them trials and troubles. The Bible, for aside from religion, there is much to be learned of men and their ways in the Bible." This seems like good advice from Louie in his novel 'To the Far Blue Mountains.'

Next is a description of women from a man's perspective and reminds me of the woman I love. "How deep, how strange is the courage of women! Courage is expected of a man, he is conditioned to it from childhood, and we in our time grew up in a world of wars and press-gangs, or highwaymen. But of women? I'd seen them follow their men to war, seen them seeking over battlefields to find their lonely dead, or the wounded who would die but for them. I have seen a woman pick up a man and carry him off the field to a place where he might have care." writes L'Amour. What a lovely way to describe the courage of a woman in love. From my perspective, this kind of woman is worth all the treasure in the world.

Of dreaming and planning Louie suggests, "Forever the dream is in the mind, realization in the hands," and more, "I had already learned to listen to the advice of others but to act only on my own beliefs, and to make my own decisions." Additionally, "A move well planned is a move half-done, and try to think through every phase."

How should a courageous man deal with fear and the responsibility of leadership and procrastination? This is what Louie thinks, "I felt a little shiver go through me. I, too, was afraid, for it was no longer as it once had been, when only I could suffer from my mistakes. Now there were others, these who entrusted themselves to me. The weight of the burden lay heavy upon me. Now that I must decide for others, my decisions came not so quickly, for any move might mean the death of my wife, of a friend, or the loss of our ship. Yet each move one makes is a risk, and if one thinks too long one does not move at all, for fear of what may come, and so becomes immobile, crouched in a shell, fearful of any move."

This is how Louie, the wild west, and frontier America, those who were independent and free-thinking, thought of doing and virtue, "God help us always to have them, men who believe in what they are doing, and who will fight for what they believe." Also, "There is a quiet beauty in such things as these, a beauty more than paint or chisel make, the beauty of quiet men, making strong things for their own use, shaping each piece with loving fingers."

His thoughts on prophecy and prophets are clairvoyant and astute as well. "Yet we readily accept the idea that a fat man is wise. Was he not wise enough to provide for himself? But we hesitate to ascribe piety to any but the lean. A fat prophet could never start a new religion, while a lean, ascetic-looking one could do it easily. A prophet should always come down from the mountain or out of the desert. He should never arise from the table. A prophet's voice should have a little roughness in the tones."

I like the bit about prophets, a serious poke in the eye, and an enjoyable laugh about the more serious gifts a man might find enduring. The way L'Amour describes the style of being an American differs vastly from the cream puff citizen we seem to cultivate today. It is concerning, and the question that burdens the mind is, "Can we redeem?"