i loved his show as a kid, and even to this day. my parents made us all watch sheriff taylor on an almost daily basis, not because they wanted to force some kind of lesson on it, but because it was on, and they had the remote. his calm, laid back, and level headed style of management was not just an example of southern lifestyle, and country living; but a bit of an outline on how we as adults should choose to behave. not to act in a rash or heinous manner, not to draw a gun at the first sense of infringement upon us, but to think things out, learn our surroundings, know what repercussions might happen to us in the long term, and understand our lives, ourselves, and our futures.
he was a man among men, he wasn't just acting in his show, he was portraying a piece of himself. the calm voice that has not only looked at all sides of the puzzle before deciding, but knows where each decision could take him, and knows what the right thing to do. that sense of right and wrong i think has gone missing in people today. sometimes we have to do what we don't like or don't want because its the good and honorable thing to do. he wasn't decadent or hedonistic, he lived within his means, took pride in what he did, and did whatever job he had to do to the best of his ability. dude was a legend, he didn't need dirty jokes to be funny, and he didn't put himself on a pedestal to tell a moral story, and he'll be missed.