07/14/2025
Respect.
When Donald Trump and Melania stepped off the plane in Kerrville, Texas, the sun was high, the wind was still, and the Stetsons started coming off like clockwork. One by one, the Texas officials who walked up to greet themโboots polished, belt buckles gleamingโfully removed their cowboy hats as they approached the First Lady. It wasnโt a performance for the cameras. It was instinct. A muscle memory passed down by generations. Gentlemen take off their hats in a womanโs presence.
There are few gestures left in American life that havenโt been hollowed out by irony or indifference, but a man removing his hat when greeting a woman still holds its own. Itโs not for show, and itโs not performative. Itโs a signalโone that stretches back across generations, rodeos, and dusty front porches. Somewhere between the brim and the crown lives an entire unspoken code, and in places like Texas, that code is still enforced.
They donโt do it for applause. They donโt need a round of likes. They were taught that when a lady walks up, your headgear comes down. Not because sheโs delicate. Not because sheโs superior. Because respect demands a posture. Not a thought. Not a feeling. A posture.
That posture begins with the hat.
Itโs not always clean. Itโs not always pretty. Sometimes itโs sweat-stained, sometimes itโs been stepped on in a cattle chute or left behind in a deer blind. But when itโs in his hand instead of on his head, it means something. It means respect. Not metaphorically. Literally.
Like thank you, please, and youโre welcomeโgood manners arenโt optional. Theyโre the baseline. They tell you everything you need to know about a man before he opens his mouth.
Itโs a form of punctuation in the grammar of manners. A man without that reflex is either too young to know better or too self-important to care. In Texas, both are cardinal sins. His mother taught him better. She didnโt raise no barn animal.
Taking off your hat doesnโt cost anything, but it signals everything. It says you were raised right. Itโs not about power, gender, or outdated rolesโitโs about acknowledgment. Itโs about placing dignity on the table without needing to say a word.
Texans arenโt the only ones who know what to do with a hat. In Mexico, a man who forgets to take it off in front of a woman is either drunk or doomed. In Spain, even bullfighters remove their montera to show respect. In the South, in church, or at a wake, leaving your hat on is asking for divine punishment. These arenโt just customs. Theyโre reflexes passed down like heirlooms.
Somewhere along the way, politeness got rebranded as weakness. But men who were raised right know the difference between softness and respect. They know how to open a door without treating a woman like she canโt do it herself. They know how to tip their hat to a stranger just because itโs Tuesday and the sunโs out. That isnโt regression. Thatโs culture.
Itโs also deeply regional. In places like New York or LA, the gesture might get you a cringe. But in South Texas or deep into cowboy country, it earns you trust before you ever speak. Itโs the difference between being taken seriously and being written off as just another tourist in boots. Wearing the uniform is easy. Knowing the language is not.
You donโt learn that from a podcast or an etiquette book. This isnโt nostalgia. Itโs not about pretending the past was perfect. Itโs about preserving the things that were actually goodโlike a handshake that means something or a greeting that makes someone feel seen.
Some hats are straw, some are felt. Some cost $40, others $1,200. But the man who takes it off to acknowledge the presence of a woman has something more valuable than the brand name on the inside band. Because the real value isnโt stitched into the hat. Itโs stitched into the man.
Copyright ยฉ 2025 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
