C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander

"My heroes have always been cowboys."

These words, from a song popular some years ago, have a particular meaning which, I think, is not often recognized. The words don't say "Cowboys have always been my heroes." If they had, the message would have been simple—the singer admires cowboys as a group.

But to say heroes have been cowboys is to say something about heroes, Masonic heroes as well as others. They are, and have always been, cowboys no matter what their actual occupation. After all, what does it mean to be a cowboy? Our culture has invested this work and the person who does it with many of the qualities we most admire, whatever the reality may have been.

Cowboys are manly. They have a code of honor, and they abide by it. They have a clear sense of right and wrong. They can endure loneliness and share deeply in fellowship around the campfire. They have a low tolerance for injustice, and they act to correct it. They call no man master. They meet nature and the world on their own terms. They act when others talk. They are self-reliant. They can take hardship and privation when necessary. They are generous to others, protective of the less fortunate, and courteous to those who are civil to them. If someone starts a fight with them, they finish it. But they are slow to anger. Their values have been tested by the roughest winds of life, yet they are rock steady. They are men of their word.

Masonic heroes have those cowboy qualities—even those who have never seen cattle or spent a night under the stars. Consider some of the Masonic heroes listed here, and you will see what I mean about the "cowboy" quality.

George Washington—who, in spite of all the impossibilities that confronted him, won the Revolution and founded a nation.

Simón Bolívar—the George Washington of South America, who fought 20 years to end tyranny and win a continent's independence.

General Omar Bradley—who did so much to assure the defeat of Hitler.

Admiral Richard Byrd—the great polar explorer who endured incredible hardships to expand the frontiers of science.

Sir Winston Churchill—who lead Great Britain through its darkest hours to victory.

Claude-Adrien Helvetius—one of the famous 18th Century encyclopedists who prepared the basic work of the 18th-Century Enlightenment and began a movement which was to make freedom a reality for the population of the world.

General George C. Marshall—who created the Marshall Plan and saved uncounted thousands from starvation and economic disaster following World War II.

Audie Leon Murphy—the most decorated American soldier of WWII, a hero many times over.

Arthur, Duke of Wellington—who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and preserved the course of western civilization and democracy.

Benjamin Franklin—a writer and statesman who did not hesitate to lay his knowledge, his services, and his personal integrity at the service of the American Revolution.

Voltaire—the great French philosopher, who believed so strongly and fought so effectively for the dignity of individual men and women that he was often cast in dungeons and tortured. Yet he remained true to his principles until he triumphed in the end.

Charles Lindbergh—who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

John Glenn—astronaut and United States Senator who returned to space 36 years after participating in America's first orbital space flight.

These names—just a few randomly selected from a list of Masonic heroes which, could it ever be totally complied, would reach to tens of thousands of names—are of men who were, each in his own way, cowboys.

This issue of the Scottish Rite Journal is dedicated to Masonic heroes. You will meet several within the pages. If you watch, you will meet many more in daily life. For Masons can be heroes even if they do not voyage to the moon, or lead armies, or form the great ideas of philosophy. Men can be heroes if they live their lives by those "cowboy qualities." That's what makes a man.

That's what makes a Mason.