Where are the Warriors?

I heard a story about a woman who worked at an event in which the Queen of England attended.  The worker opened the door for all of the dignitaries, royalty, famous writers, actors, etc., and lead them into the ballroom.  The Queen passed and did not acknowledge this worker.  To be expected, I might guess.  Then, a man came up and the woman showed him to a chair.  He looked her in the eyes and said something like Oh, so you think you can take my chair or are you afraid I am going to steal it?  I do not remember the exact words but he said so in a teasing, light-hear-ted way. They shared the small talk laugh and the worker soon went on to her other business.

This story has been "rattlin around" in my writing brain.  The Queen did not acknowledge her or in all probability even notice her.  Okay, so she is Queen and I get that.  The man who ended up being John Wayne, treated her as if she might be some relative racing him to the Thanksgiving table where one wants to sit next to the turkey or grandma's homemade mashed potatoes.

I like this story.  It says something about our American beginnings.  Our rebellious spirit.  Our warrior mentality.  In today's politically correct world, there have been some that marked John Wayne as a sexist or a racist based on his movies.  I wonder if those politically correct people realize that John Wayne doesn't exist in this world.  Literally, folks, he did in 1979.  Even us forty--somethings may not know who he was unless we were our family's first remote control and had to stand next to the television and crank the dial to the next channel searching for dad's favorite westerns.

Society today cannot understand the past's zeitgeist (spirit of the times).  We can only understand our own.  Yet, we judge what has happened in the past.  Our time is coming.  What will they say about this time, our actions, our societal judgments?

I wonder if they will ask who our warriors were?  Where are the people that are fighting injustices?  Are they too afraid of political fallout, being accused of some sort of ism, or not having the strength to battle ambiguity?

Is there enough of a warrior spirit to have a hunger strike for 25 days like Cesar Chavez which some say more than likely contributed to his death.  Enough spirit to know you are defeated but fight on anyway like Ellen Moves Camp, founder of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization when she called for action in removing a repressive tribal leader.  The warrior in her organized a public protest that lead to deeper actions such as 1970's Wounded Knee standoff.

John Wayne was just a man.  He wasn't a warrior like the Chavez or Moves Camp.  He played one in the movies.  Sometimes he was a good warrior and sometimes he was a bad warrior.  I never knew him but I sense he knew this.  He understood that he was playing a role.  That day when he walked in to the fancy event with royalty and other important people, he was a warrior---a simple man who remembered his original zip code which was based in humble beginnings.  He did not save a human from peril that night, he did not rescue a little child from danger, he did not even do anything heroic to be asked to attend the event, but he did warrior on.....he did that old trick that has been around since mankind remembers, that darn old Golden Rule.