"Manifest Destiny" wasn't quite what our history books led us to believe. It really wasn't a bunch of starry-eyed settlers looking to make a better future for themselves and our country. On their own, the transplanted European settlers couldn't survive on the great plains without the muscle and savagery of the American soldier to clear a path to the west. The native American Indian wasn't a nation of noble warriors living in harmony with each other. Long before Europeans set foot on this continent, the indigenous population spent the vast majority of their time brutalizing and killing each other, usually over land but sometimes just because that's what they did.
Let me be clear I'm neither glorifying nor condemning the native American nor the US soldier. The histories of both are far to broad to summarize in this blog. Suffice it to say that both possessed a nobility and wickedness that made the two cultures natural enemies. Sad to realize there were far too many opportunities where a peaceful co-existence could have been achieved by both sides however greed, politics and self-preservation ruled the day.
I suppose you're wondering what my point is with all this. Well, it's mainly about truth and understanding. As I said, I'm not condemning or glorifying anything here. Sure there were heinous crimes committed by both sides and as an American I accept them as my legacy. For me it's important to remove the shroud of falsehoods that Hollywood and our poorly written text books created in order to reveal the truth of our heritage. I'm understanding more about what both sides had to endure and what motivated them to do the things they did. For better or worse, whatever the circumstances, that history has gotten us to where we are today. In my constant search to understand the "why" in someone's behavior, I have to dig deeper to understand from where they came.
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