Sometimes, I just plain envy Huckleberry Finn. When he finally did all the adventuring he wanted to do, he lit out for the Western Territories. His life was a mixture of scheming, fun, and loyalty, marked by the rebellious nature of his fight with anti-bellum society.
Huck could always get away. He could go West. In the Red Pony, Grandfather sits in California, looking out to the sea and is sad, as his life of "westering" is gone. There is no more West. The West has been conquered.
For some of us, especially Americans, the movement west is part of the fabric of our family lives. We inherited "westering" and it is in our blood. This movement has to do with discovering new places, new people, but more than that, leaving behind the familiar and the dull.
Those who went West did so for many reasons including religious freedom, or financial prospects.
Westerning meant setting out from a comfort zone of the known and going into the unknown.
Westering meant leaving family, friends, ancestral homes for that which was new and unfamiliar.
There is no more West. All lands, except, perhaps, for some places in Alaska, have been conquered by brave men and women.
When things get tough, one cannot just pick up and move, but one must stay and fight or endure or die.
When civilization got too hard for Huck Finn to face, he could just lit out for the territories. There are no more territories except Mars and the Moon. What does this mean for men and women? What does this mean for those who are caught in lands torn apart by civil war?
There is no place for a new start-none.
Modern men and women have to face two possibilities. Get along with each other or create war. Sadly, the latter is the choice of the day.
