Words for the day

This is from Rico's novel The Hero Business (which you are welcome to go purchase and enjoy), which was supposed to star Tom Selleck:

I stood in front of the tape shelf, eying the piles of black boxes. Here were the images that’d formed my view of the world since I was a child, lined up like a polygraph reading of my soul: High Noon. El Dorado. Rio Lobo. The Magnificent Seven. Tom Horn. The Professionals. Here were the men I’d grown up wanting to become: Gary Cooper. John Wayne. James Coburn. Burt Lancaster. Steve McQueen. Lee Marvin. Quiet men, men who did the things that needed doing. Men like my grandfather. Hell, my grandfather even looked like Lee Marvin. Men who’d become, in recent years, caricatures of manhood in the public eye, stereotypes fit only for mockery.
But what did they really stand for, these supposedly ‘macho’ men? Integrity. A man’s word was his bond, not a multipage contract laced with escape clauses. Honor. A man didn’t take advantage of the weak. A man didn’t abuse women or children. A man didn’t stand meekly by while others did these things, either. Courage. A man did what had to be done. No matter what it cost him.
When had these ideals become outdated? When had honor and integrity become things to be scorned? To me, the memory of these men still stood for the right way to do things, even in a world that had changed. Those who’d been my sensei in the martial arts, little warriors from the East so different, seemingly, from these bigger ones of the West, also taught the same precepts as the men in the movies on my wall. Say only what you mean. Promise only what you will do. Protect those who can’t protect themselves. Oppose those who would harm others. Even at the risk of your own life.

Rico says sometimes, rereading his old stuff, he's amazed at what he's written.