heroes

we were learning the geography of south america and i was telling the class about the pampas in argentina. i said that the pampas have a lot of grass and the argentine cowboys, or "gauchos", used the grass for their cows. a bewildered carli asked, "what do cows have to do with cowboys?" trying to suppress a smile, i told her that at one time cowboys were the men in charge of herding and taking care of cattle, and that cowboys aren't just men in boots that ride in rodeos. then heather piped up and said, "oh! i always thought cowboys were heroes!" when i asked her to explain she said, "cowboys always come and save the day, so i thought that cowboy was just another word for hero." in response, the usually quiet but sarcastic camille muttered, "so..what? superman's a cowboy?" finally, the rest of the class busted up with me.