Cowboys. We love’em. We hate’em. We love to hate’em; and then we hate the fact that we love’em. Maybe it’s best to say that America has a complicated relationship with cowboys. Whetstone Boys Ranch, even with its strong Western roots, is no different.

We could argue about the reasons why and what these reasons tell us about ourselves, but one thing is for sure. Everyone seems to like Danny Glover’s portrayal of Joshua Deets in the television miniseries, Lonesome Dove. Rarely has a fictional character demonstrated such “splendid behavior,” to quote the book by Larry McMurtry and the film.

But the more you think about Deets and what he represents, the more complicated he becomes.

On this episode of A Time to Sharpen, we discuss Deets with Ty Lewis, our current agricultural director and a former house parent at Whetstone Boys Ranch. What can this iconic character tell us about how to work with struggling teenagers? And perhaps more importantly, what can he tell us about how to work with ourselves while we work with struggling teenagers?