It's been a while since I've written anything all that much meaningful
to anybody except myself, so yesterday I set out looking at images to
try and spark whatever little creativity in this respect I possess.
So surfing I went, and came up with this image of a cowboy on a horse,
standing in the middle of nowhere looking off into the
distance;
off the Wikipedia website. The image of this man in this plain
environment made me wonder how simple life really was back in the days
of America's infancy. With some level of inspiration acquired, here is
what I came up with.
The New
Frontier; When Life Was Simple
In 1620 the first settlers to become the first American peoples landed
in Plymouth Massachusetts. Seeking political asylum and or relief from
various oppressions, these brave or desperate folks stepped onto a
fresh, untainted soil, setting the stage for the country we live in
today. Battles
were won on many scales, both socially, economically, and politically;
and some were lost. Eventually, some 150 some odd years later, the
generations of these first courageous defectors won America it's
sovereignty, and began building the United States of America.
As America was growing, and New England well established, some people
began to feel cramped from the same effects that drove our founding
forefathers to land in Plymouth, and decided to find a less restricted
freedom for themselves and their families by moving westward. These as
I understand were the people of the new frontier; those brave men,
women and children who chose to break off from the ways of an
established society seeking a greater peace, and expanding Americas
borders.
I imagine life was extremely harsh for these people. Traveling into
mostly uncharted territory over long distances and various difficult
terrains, under many extreme weather conditions without the luxuries we
have to overcome these obstacles today. Harsh may be an understatement
so much so that modern American people can not even fathom.
Today we can travel from New York to Paris in 90 minutes in the comfort
of aircraft, where stewardess wait on our every whim. We travel by
automobile over smoothly paved roads from place to place. No, modern
America can not imagine what traveling was like in the days of the
pioneer, in fact, many may even balk at the very thought.
As harsh as it must have been, simple it was for sure as the new
frontiersmen did not suffer the complexities of modern
America
or todays world. Survival depended on sheltering oneself, and eating,
not so unlike today. However, the means of obtaining these
basic
requirements of life were far simpler; people needed to use their
bodies for themselves and those close to them, or die
.
Today Americans bicker back and forth with
their employers over
the quality of the work place. Sick days, vacation days, personal days,
holidays, paid pregnancy leave for both mom and dad; many of these
people "slaving" behind a desk in climate-controlled offices. Try to
conceive of working without pay, simply to survive. You either got your
butt up at the crack of dawn, and busted your back, every man, woman,
and child until dark or you would most likely perish.
People needed each other and those native peoples they came across
during their westward migration simply to survive. Cultures exchanged,
and new bonds formed between the defectors of the east, and the native
Indians they encountered. The folk of the new frontier respected these
people, and depended on their wisdom greatly to overcome many of the
harsh environments they encountered.
In this modern day, we exploit ethnic differences and bring racial
prejudice to an inconceivable height. False persecution, beatings,
verbal battles, rape, even murder and genocide simply because we
don't need
to depend on each other to survive anymore. From mild
tolerance to
full-fledged hatred, we do not respect those different from us as it
was in the dawning of the west. |
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Family unity and the sense of community were paramount to survival.
Groups of settlers formed small communities to build up their new homes
and farmlands. The blacksmith, carpenter, and the farmer all working in
harmony as equals, each dependent on one another. Women and children
worked very hard alongside their men shaping their own lands and homes.
Under the hardships of the new frontier, these people lived simply
under harsh conditions, developing the western US.
Racial prejudice, divorce, sexual discrimination, gender
discrimination, corrupt law enforcement and political systems
are what our communities consist of today. Banks, loan sharks
and
agents, lend people money they don't even have, in order to pay the
lowest bidder to build our homes and communities. When one cannot make
the payments, your property is often virtually snuffed out from
underneath you, putting many families out into the street. No, none of
your neighbors care, and if they do, there is little they can do to
help you. How could they, many are in the same predicament as you. It's
each for themselves in our present day.
The courageous men and women who blindly trekked westward to avoid many
of the very same issues we face today and to find simpler more
tolerable lives somewhere out in the western wilderness, lived very
simply. They had to; they had little choice.
So I say to you all, we all have something to be thankful for as we
enter the Thanksgiving holidays. We can be thankful to all
those
brave souls who's blood sweat, and tears built what we have today.
Let us all be thankful that none of them are alive to see how
complex
its all become.