"Skin that Smoke-wagon..."

Johnny Tyler, "Madcap," gets a spanking
from Wyatt Earp to open the show, it's
a nice scene, as it gives us a sense of how
much Wyatt wouldn't put up with.  What
he knows is that Johnny will talk a good
fight, but when it gets to doing something,
he hesitates, Wyatt won't.

That's Hollywood, movies,
and actors, real life, takes a
bit more, and it's often just as
quick and challenging as when
Wyatt dares Johnny to "Skin it-
skin that smoke wagon and go to work."
It's quick, and if the wrong choice
gets made, it can be, unforgiving.

A Detroit cop told me one time that
they had a saying, "don't pull it if you
ain' gonna use it."  Pretty similar to
what Wyatt was saying- we all sort
of understand that there are some
places we go, that lead one way,
some decisions we make that run
one course, and once we make them
we better be in for the whole show
including the intermission.

The power that drives such decisive
behavior comes from a place inside
the person; a place where you know
ahead of time what you will and
won't take.  That sort of character
inside is what we need to hold onto
when times get tough.  What you

may find useful is to figure out
ahead of time, where you stand
on simple issues, like truth versus
lies, honesty versus dishonesty,
the essentials. Once you determine
how you will relate to those,
the decision which isn't quite
so cut and dried, won't throw
you nearly as far, nearly as hard.