This outfit does not make me a Texan

JonBEST_2

A Column by Jonathon S. Platt

I remember when no one was lookinโ€™ I was puttinโ€™ peanuts in my coke. I took a lot of kidding cause I never did fit in. Now, look at everybody trying to be what I was then. I was country, when country wasnโ€™t cool.โ€

These words from Barbara Mandrellโ€™s song โ€œI Was Country When Country Wasnโ€™t Coolโ€ oftentimes sum up my life. I grew up outside of a small Texas town with a dad who loved working horses and cattle and a grandfather who spent his days on a tractor.

We were Texans, but not because we did these things. Because โ€œTexanโ€ is larger than that. Texans are known ’round the world because weโ€™re larger than life. Weโ€™re tougher than tough. And we welcome anyone to become a part of our crew because the honorable status of Texan is not earned by what you wear, what you do or where you were raised.

Being a Texan means being who you are with pride.

Some of the most historic and famous Texans werenโ€™t from this state at all. Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin were born in Virginia. Davy Crockett was a senator from Tennessee. Our beloved former President George W. Bush was born in New Haven, Conn.

Very few of the movie-dwelling western icons of yesteryear came from Texas. Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Sam Elliott, Lee Van Cleef โ€” none of these men, whom our fathers and grandfathers idealized for their machoness, were โ€œtrueโ€ Texans. Heck, not even John Wayne was born on Texas soil.

Yet their swagger โ€” their sense of who they were or are โ€” makes them one of us.

However, it seems that Texas has become popular in recent culture. A growing population now sports artificially faded Wrangler jeans, flannel shirts and flat-brimmed trucker hats. To me, as someone who actually grew up in dirty jeans and scuffed boots, itโ€™s done ironically and disingenuously.

Being a Texan doesnโ€™t come down to what one wears or drives or says with a certain accent. Texan is a state of mind and a sense of pride. Simply showing up, purchasing a cowboy hat and kicking on some boots does not in any way make you a Texan.

The beautiful culture I was raised in is no trend or laughing matter, and artificially stepping into it brings out what Merle Haggard calls โ€œthe fightinโ€™ side of me.โ€

If you donโ€™t normally wear a cap and boots, please donโ€™t pretend to. Be yourself. What you wear does not make you a Texan โ€” your heart does.