If Montana is known for anything beyond its incomparable physical beauty and great fishing, it is for the character of its people.
When I moved to Montana with my family at age 12, this character was readily apparent, even to a kid. Montanans were open, hearty, friendly. If you were new in town, they'd buy your Dad a beer--and invite you to clamber up on the bar stool for a Roy Rogers.
If you saw a dusty cowboy with shit on his boots having coffee at the 4B's cafe, it was your Dad who told you later he was a wealthy rancher, worth millions. This guy would never tell you.
In Montana, you just didn't brag--especially about your wealth.
Of course, in Montana, your word was your bond. Even years after I left the state, my reputation as a "Western Gentleman" has followed me--traits that came naturally to me from growing up in Montana.
When John Steinbeck said that for Montana he only felt love, you can bet the character of its people was a major reason.
Which so baffles me why a state like Montana would vote for a guy like Donald Trump--liar and braggart extraordinaire, who will break any rule or smash any norm for power or a buck, and whose ethical core seems to be, "Squeeze the suckers dry."
I know that once you set power or money as your ultimate goal, as Trump obviously has, you'll sacrifice all values and any person in pursuit of it.
I never thought it was in the character of the people of Montana to fall for that.
When I moved to Montana with my family at age 12, this character was readily apparent, even to a kid. Montanans were open, hearty, friendly. If you were new in town, they'd buy your Dad a beer--and invite you to clamber up on the bar stool for a Roy Rogers.
If you saw a dusty cowboy with shit on his boots having coffee at the 4B's cafe, it was your Dad who told you later he was a wealthy rancher, worth millions. This guy would never tell you.
In Montana, you just didn't brag--especially about your wealth.
Of course, in Montana, your word was your bond. Even years after I left the state, my reputation as a "Western Gentleman" has followed me--traits that came naturally to me from growing up in Montana.
When John Steinbeck said that for Montana he only felt love, you can bet the character of its people was a major reason.
Which so baffles me why a state like Montana would vote for a guy like Donald Trump--liar and braggart extraordinaire, who will break any rule or smash any norm for power or a buck, and whose ethical core seems to be, "Squeeze the suckers dry."
I know that once you set power or money as your ultimate goal, as Trump obviously has, you'll sacrifice all values and any person in pursuit of it.
I never thought it was in the character of the people of Montana to fall for that.
