Life is a Rodeo

Certain platitudes suggest that "life is a beach" or that "life is a highway."  Some may even consider life to be "just a bowl of cherries."  There may be some comfort in these bromides, but country music artist Dustin Craig's assessment probably comes closer to the truth: "Every day is a rodeo."

As part of an initiative toward civic improvement, the city of Lehi, Utah hosts an annual celebration which includes a Round-up Rodeo (a tradition that has endured for seventy-five years).  The opening ceremonies include a tribute to the United States of America, an invocation, and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  A grand entry of the contestants and a wild horse race precede the main events.   

Impressively talented cowboys and cowgirls engage in a variety of rodeo competitions, such as steer wrestling, bareback, tie down roping, saddle bronc riding, team roping, barrel racing, and bull riding.  In the intervals between competitions, other rodeo athletes thrill the audience with trick riding, freestyle motorcross and freestyle bullfighting.  A rodeo clown even provides comic relief during the rough and tumble of the events. Forget about beaches, highways or cherries... the rodeo is a much more exciting and appropriate metaphor for life.