Go West Young Man ~ Nan O'Berry

We were born with wanderlust in our souls.

Man, and his thirst for new horizons is one of the oldest needs to be experienced. To go, to see, to experience, what is beyond our touch seems to come naturally. From the first explorers on this continent, we have been pushing west to see what is just around the river bend, over the next hill, or beyond the mountainside.

What thrusts the species forward?

Our inquisitive nature? Perhaps.

The need for more land?

Indeed, the idea of hitting the riches, finding the next big deposit of riches excites something deep inside.

There is something to be said about sending roots down deep.  When the Spanish and English explores first came to the New World, their thoughts were to spread Christianity, to establish a new threshold in a world unknown for their king ( aka glory) , and Gold. Wealth and the ability to move up the ladder socially has driven both sexes to find their destiny.

American’s love Manifest Destiny. We see it as our “Holy Grail” to expand our beliefs in “every man is equal” (Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence)  therefore promised a piece of the pie. The Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark’s Expedition opened what lay beyond the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. An epic promise if you followed your dreams, surely good things such as wealth will follow.

Every students recalls Horace Greeley’s editorial about “Go West Young Man and grow up with your country”. The reason many left the east was the decline in employment, the threat of war, or even their own incarceration by the law. Out west, a man set his rule and lived by his own laws until civilization tamed the land.  Perhaps it was best written by the Miles Hood Swarthout for the movie, The Shootist.

“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

Of course, it was uttered by the greatest cowboy of all time (in my opinion) John Wayne. It was his last film. It gets me every time I watch it. His character had come west. Skirted the law as a gunfighter and knowing his death was a matter of time, decided he was going out on his own terms in his own way.  Something, I think all of us wish to live life to the fullest and to die on our own terms.

There can be no greater glory than that.

Writers write hero’s larger than life. We create landscapes with words that no man has walked on until our hero emerges. We give them glory. We give them the greatest gift one can, the love of a good woman with a heart of gold.

So, let’s Go West. Let’s keep dreaming. Let’s set our own rules and live by them. 

 

Until next time,

Nan.