Istvan wrote:Rolos wrote:Born_Loser wrote: God I should have been born 200 years ago.
I used to think like that....until I gave the matter a little thought. The past SUCKED. It really did.
Agreed. No
decent medicine/doctors, terrible food, no airconditioning (and poor heating), no internet/TV, and let's not forget no flush toilets or toiletpaper. The past sucked, and in so many different ways.
I have to disagree. It wasn't that bad. I'd have been a Mountain Man. Dangerous life, and hard... but the level of freedom was great. You could have steak EVERY night if you were good enough. Rabbit and Squirrel are also amazing dishes.
Of course, the whole being murdered and scalped by indians was a big negative, but I would like to direct you to Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. There is a saying, "Few white men could play the indian game better than the indians. Boone and Kenton did." Plus, it was also entirely possible to become friends with the indians, and even adopted into their tribes. That means.... indian girls! *grins* They had this ritual where a family could adopt you into their family, and the rest of the tribe.
In the case of Kenton, once he was captured, and before burning him alive, they made him run the Gauntlet. He almost always tried to escape during these, but they would literally beat him into unconciousness. When he woke up, they made him run it again. He probably ran it over 2 dozen times, and almost escaped a few times as well. They were so shocked when he took off running and jumped over their line they almost didn't catch him once. However, he ran it so many times, and was beaten so badly, they actually began to respect him. So, when they finally did decide to just burn him alive, one of his old friends came to the rescue.
A man named Simon Girty, who was another white man who'd been adopted by the Shawnee, stood up and said he was his bloodbrother(and it was true, they made a blood-pact). This caused a big uproar and an emergency council, and then it was decided that for Girty's sake, Kenton would be adopted into the tribe to replace a son who'd been killed by the white men. Kenton used his new freedom to escape, LOL.
Anyways, didn't mean to ramble on like that. I could've talked about Blue Jacket for the same effect. Were i born 200 years ago, I wouldn't be a pesant in a city reeking of filth, but a native american roaming the plains and hills. Or maybe paddling up and down the Ohio river looking for white people to scalp. Nah, I would have been more like Chief Logan. He was a peace loving man, but when the last of his family was murdered by Jacob Greathouse, he swore revenge: for every member os his family murdered, he would murder 10 whites.... and he actuallly did settle the score. He was very wise, men from different tribes, and even some white men would come to him for advice and counsel.
Anyways. Life 200 years ago just doesn't look bad to me. I already don't use doctors, and TV back then would just distract me from the amazing view of the stars.
"Never dance with a girl who's older brothers have knife scars." - Matrim Cauthon