Cowboy walks into a bar in Texas

[Dale Cozby]

A cowboy walks into a bar in Texas, orders three mugs of beer and sits in the back room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, "You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time."

The cowboy replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Australia, the other is in Dublin, and I'm in Texas. When we all left home, we promised we'd drink this way to remember the days we drank together. So I drink one for each of my brothers and one for myself."

The bartender admits this is a nice custom, and leaves it there. The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn. One day, though, he comes in and orders only two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent.

When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss."

The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns and he laughs. "Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains. "It's just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church in Sweetwater, and I had to quit drinking. Hasn't affected my brothers though."

[Gina Stevenson]

[moderator's post]

Noting that there was concern over a drinking post, we acknowledge our ambivalence over this, too, having experienced such problems with family members, like some of you.

Yet we looked to see if we had indeed been one of those who had clicked on the "laugh" button, because it struck us as a wee bit absurdly funny in a strange way how one can -- in denial -- as this illustrates, disengage themselves enough from what they are doing so as to feel they are "not responsible" for what is being done ...not humorous, per se, but definitely strangely "funny."

So, perhaps it can be left as a "denial-in-action" illustration?

[Dale Cozby]

The joke was shared with me by an Episcopal brother who is a tee-totaler and a good Christian brother who works with me in prison ministry.
Having never had a drink of alcohol in my life I did not think it offensive just funny. However if the thought of a new Christian trying to follow church rules and dealing with the disconnect from his past ways is offensive to some here, please remove the post.

[Gina Stevenson]

Jim, as we mentioned, someone did write to us wondering about its aptness here. Yet, it is not just "funny," but might even make the point we mentioned above ... encouraging some thinking ... so it can stay.