Hank Hill and Me

Hank Hill and Me

Posted on March 13th, 2011 by Jeff McDonald

I’ve always thought that King of the Hill – an animated television series that followed the lives of a family, their neighbors, friends and co-workers in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas – should be required viewing for people, such as myself, coming from ‘someplace else’ to make their home in the Lone Star State. And there’s nothing like Texas Independence Day to stress that point … and to strengthen my bond with family man, propane man and quintessential Texan, Hank Hill.

Another Texas Independence Day has come and gone … this one had a little more sparkle to it, being the 175th (how we LOVE numbers such as this – so much more appealing than 174 or 176) anniversary of a historic gathering at Washington On the Brazos, in 1836. They were planning a special celebration in Washington, Texas, and I hope it worked out. A celebration here, in Midland, was a special occasion, as it also honored a friend of mine, a wonderful and hard-working woman who has done so much for the community, and for the state.

Texas Independence Day …

“You probably won’t realize the importance of this, not being from around here” … to the credit of Texas and its people, it’s something I’ve only been told once in the 27 years I’ve lived in the Lone Star State.

And actually – when I think about it – I do understand, and so do a lot of dang Yankees from back-east, such as myself. True, I am someone who – to borrow the old saying – “wasn’t born in Texas, but got here as fast as I could.” But the same could be said for such Lone Star luminaries as Stephen Austin, William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Mirabeau Lamar and Sam Houston.

DON’T GET ME WRONG … I do NOT equate myself with them. But it doesn’t hurt to remember that, with the exception of Juan Seguin and his company of Tejanos, there wasn’t a ‘native Texan’ to be found on the Texas side of the revolution.

The Keystone Stater in me would like to point out that there were an estimated 13 Pennsylvanians defending the walls of the Alamo, and offering up their lives for the revolution and the ideals it represented. And well they should. Because it was something that had been important to them, their parents and their grandparents for more than half-a-century.

Maybe that’s what bugged me about that remark, way back when … the fact that, ‘not being from around here,’ I wouldn’t be unable to understand what was being decided in the Texas revolution. You see, to my mind, it was something that all free-thinking people know ….. or should know.

After all, it wasn’t just people that came to Texas from up-north and back-east ….. the ideals adopted at Washington On the Brazos had been conceived many years before, in Philadelphia ….. and the determination to defend those ideals in Goliad and Gonzales, San Antonio and San Jacinto, had been inspired – again, many years before – by what took place at Bunker Hill and Valley Forge, Lexington, Concord and Cowpens.

I think Hank Hill would understand what I’m talking about … or at least he does now that’s he’s made a clandestine visit to the Alamo. if you ever get a chance to watch ‘Yankee Hankee’ – Episode 10/Season 5 of “King of the Hill” – do it! It sums up very well my thoughts about Texas’ independence, and what that independence owes to a bunch of folk who “weren’t born in Texas, but …”

Little bit of trivia, “Yankee Hankee” first aired just three weeks before the 165th anniversary of Texas Independence Day … probably accidental … but still kind of neat.

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Jeff McDonald

There's a saying around here, something like, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!" That's me. I'm a 'dang Yankee from back-east' who settled in the Lone Star State after some extended stays in the eastern U.S., and New Mexico. I worked as an archaeologist for a few years before dusting off my second major in English, and embarking on a 25-year career in journalism. Since then, I've embraced the dark side of the force, and now work in PR for a community college in Midland, Texas.