NEDERLAND — With concerns about so many other things, like jobs, work, the economy, politics, and what is going on with one's family, extended family,  and friends, it is easy to forget how lucky we are to live in the USA and — more specifically — the State of Texas.

As I have told several acquaintances on many occasions, “There's a helluva lot of worse places to grow up than Nederland, Texas.”

I know that to be true because, as a football coach, I was guilty of moving my little family around all over Texas. My son and daughter grew up in Nederland, Big Spring, San Antonio, Huntsville, Orange, Denton, and back to Nederland. I also coached in Laredo, after they were grown and college graduates.

Then, when I grew older and gave it some thought, I apologized to them for snatching them from one town to the next. My son, Lance, for example went to eight elementary schools in seven semesters. And, about 95 percent of the time, my wife taught in the elementary school where we lived. I know it was hard on her, but she never complained.

Then Lance told me not to fret about it...

“We were lucky, Daddy, it taught us to meet new people and experience living in most every area in Texas. Most people don't get to do that.”

Age and spare time bring back so many memories of  times one never appreciated enough, and heritage is of prime importance to one's life.

Nederland, for example, has such a great combination of many foreign cultures, all of them retaining a Texas flavor. The early settlers were, of course, the Dutch from the Netherlands, thus the name. Then, with the Spindletop Oil Boom, came the Cajuns from Louisiana. Then many Latinos — Mexican-Americans — and all those cultures blended together right here where I grew up.

Then, in the last couple of decades, we had an incursion of Asian-Vietnamese, with their great food added to Cajun and Mexican, and their shrimping ability in the Gulf of Mexico. Not to mention their academic achievements in all of our schools... it speaks plainly of their priorities...some from which we might profit.

And there is so much more of the blending of cultures I'm leaving out. Its total telling would require a book.

All of this was brought home to me after I read a great article in the “Texas Highways” magazine (March 2010). There is a great story in there called “The Pageant of the Charro.”

To come directly to the point, were it not for the Mexican ranching traditions in Texas, we would never have had any cowboys. That means no cowboy movies, books, boots, belt buckles, cowboy boot makers,or rodeos, and the list, as you can imagine, goes on and on.

The article begins with an explanation;

“Dating to the 16th Century, charreada began as a celebration, a fiesta that marked the close of a cattle roundup. Teams of charros, cowboys from sprawling ranches...competed against one another in a series of events, called suertes, modeled on equestrian competition of the Spanish conquistadores and everyday ranch work.”

It was the beginning of the rodeo, with very different rules than we have today. In the bull riding event today, a cowboy has to stay on the bull for eight seconds to score. In the charreada the bull rider had to stay on as long as possible or until the bull quit bucking. And the article went on to say how and where charreadas are still held today. Many around San Antonio.

“Rodeo” is Spanish for “roundup”, “chaps” is an abbreviation for “chaparreras” charros wore for protection from cactus.

So it's evident that cultures blend, and that we inherit customs from the past and change them some, like 16th Century charreadas and today's rodeos.

 Most of us, I think, take too many things for granted in our corner of Texas. Port Arthur's Mardi Gras and Nederland's Heritage Festival are both tributes to another time. Maybe we should pay more attention.

Neal Morgan of Nederland is a retired educator.