Being lucky enough to go to the movies as a kid meant going to see a Western. Westerns always took place sometime in the 1800′s. The 1800s were recent enough to be remembered in stories passed down by family members, and Westerns were filled with action and suspense.
Old Westerns always had characters that were easily defined. Good Guys wore white hats, and the Bad Guys always wore dark hats. It made it easy to know immediately who were the good guys and who were the bad guys.
One unique part in Westerns that stuck with me all these years was a ritual called, “Make your Mark”. The Good Guys whether signing on for a cattle drive, a posse, or taking on some other job, were always asked to Make their Mark on a sheet of paper.
Sometimes, after they made their mark with a simple X, and someone wrote in their name next to their X. Other times, the Good Guy wrote out his name in some flowery script. However they made their mark, it was clear that they were pledging to something, and they would see it through to the end or die in the process.
In a few Westerns a different type of Mark was made. A young Cowboy would be told to go out and Make his Mark. This was confusing to me, because generally cowboys made their Marks on paper. As a kid I did not understand how a Cowboy could Make his Mark if he did not sign anything.
In these odd Westerns where a young Cowboy went out and made his mark without writing his name on anything, there was more to the story line. Generally he would meet some Cowgirl and they would get mushy and then have a falling out. The Cowboy would leave angry, pack up some things, ride into the arid lands, do battle with bad guys, and finally return to fall madly in love with the Gal he left behind. I always missed where or how he Made his Mark though. How or where did he Make his Mark, as he never signed anything?
Later, I started to understand the idea of Cowboy’s Making his Mark was an abstract concept. The Cowboy had to get out there, where ever there was, and do something important. The mark the Cowboy made were his larger than life accomplishments. Bigger than driving cattle to market – which would have been his job. Big accomplishments were saving a Town, protecting Ranchers from rustlers, or rescuing the Cowgirl from bad guys.
I was confused how I was supposed to, ‘Get out there and make my mark’. Though no one ever said anything like it, it seemed to be an expectation as I grew up. There were no rustlers, no one was in distress, or needed saving, and there was a lake or stream every few miles so water was never an issue. I never met a young woman I had a serious argument with. What exactly was I expected to do to, Make My Mark?
Eventually I started to have an inkling of what, ‘Making your Mark’ was all about. For us mere mortals, ‘Making Your Mark’ is a sequence of events happening over a lifetime. Making Your Mark is not completing a single task and riding off into the sunset, or marrying the Cowgirl who suddenly has become so desirable.
