What would it be called today, and where is it?

Self-reliance, individualism, inventiveness, pragmatism, mobility and restlessness. These are the characteristics of a people in an era gone, and yet seemingly returning to some of the most amazing stretches of America.

Get out of your rut and take some head clearing time and visit some of the areas of the country where the population is declining to the internationally recognized standard for 'vacant' land as a separate measurement from land of a 'frontier' which is also a recognized measure of land, people, usage, along with population density.

Did you know (I hope to have you care by the end of this post)? that the only population increasing in some stretches of the middle plain states and the high tier Canadian border states of the U. S. is the American Indian and a few species of once threatened birds, and animals.

So what?

Well, if you will recall your history lessons in that little one room school house you are old enough to have attended, or young enough to have been taught about, the Indians were unceremoniously marched down the streets of the towns of the old west and not so old west to reservations as recently as the early 1900's.

So what?

Well, these people are returning to the lands from which they were forced. They are finding ways to live and return to values of importance to them.

So what?

The Indians are returning to what was once the 'Frontier' of the country as it fulfilled its long harsh intent of eminent domain. What the tribes and small groups of Indians are finding again is what a huge share of the airy fairy population claim to desire. They have found the solitude of living with the land and what it offers and do not dwell on attempting to change the land to fit them. They are again teaching those who care and wonder about this unique place we live. They are showing that the land is open to heal itself, and can support 300 thousand of what was nearly an extinct life line - the buffalo. It is too late for the carrier pigeon, the plains wolves, and the many tribes of people who were trampled with the disease and greed of the westward drive to the 'frontier', however it is not too late for you to see what is going on today to recreate a 'frontier' for the country.

It is not too late for you to see the frontier being reborn.
It IS happening in various places across the west and plains.

You will find people who can and do live through their self-reliance, individualism, inventiveness, pragmatism, mobility and restlessness that make-up the characteristics of people who settled the country during the great rush west. The people who stuck to the ground and didn't necessarily drive all the way West to the coastal states are still represented, however they are now able to live so far apart with cars etc, that there are no communities for gathering and marketing.

Lots of authorities consider the Horace Greeley quote; "Go West young man, go West." as the cry of the doom of the Indian people and the era of the frontier.

I for one think that the paper presented to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 by Frederick Jackson to be the grand description of what Horace Greeley was actually saying.

It seems to me, now that much of the plains and west has been recently measured as vacnant and much more as frontier, we can all go west and consider our values and wonder just how much 'stuff' we ought to be collecting on the back fence and walls of our casitas.

How much junk do we get to take with us when we die?

How much do we need to be comfortable and live happy? After all, that we will be able to allow ourselves to live as happy as we can is our biggest fear. Most are unable to create happiness and contentment with what they have.

There is a daily experience that was for thousands of years a non volunteer experience that I'd guess the majority today haven't experienced for possibly years. The peace in a sunset or sunrise. Or even something as simple as experiencing a tomato while standing at the plant and wiping the dust off on your bib overalls as you pull it from the plant and stuff it in your mouth.
Where is the limit to living with the earth and living off of the earth?

At what point in the scheme that allows the Indian as a people to return to live contentedly on the 'frontier' and 'vacant' land where civilization has not been able, do we begin to look for our individual human animal responsibility? What is our real responsibility to the earth and to our fellow inhabitants on earth?

Is it really as simple as to just live as happily as I can while causing as little impact on others as possible so that when I die, there will not be a carbon footprint, monuments and shrines to my having been here? Is it my responsibility to leave here and have someone say of me. "He was happy."

The answer is to listen to your mind chatter less, and listen to the sunrises, sunsets, waterfalls, rainbows, butterflies, buffalo, tall grasses and the birds. Do not forget to smell the roses,also.

No cab fare, as there is no place for me to spend it in a 'vacant' or 'frontier' land as you could find out if you would get out of the rut.

Oh yes, here is a link to what Fredrick Jackson Turner had to say :

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/frontierthesis.html

CABBY