I had the opportunity to go west this past summer.
- Everyone I knew kept telling me about the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.
Once I got to the desert and looked out at the Rockies, I was in awe. I could have cared less about all the tourist traps that people spent millions of dollars a year to visit. Seeing the Rockies with their snow caps from this distance, had me in tears. I remembered how my family often said how our family came from this area. They moved east to escape the ravages of the soldiers and to start a life that was free of the reservations they were forced to live in. This was their country and their legacy had been taken from them. I could only imagine how hard it had to have been to live in this harsh desert and survive. They had no air conditioning to keep them cool, and only the harsh heat of the sun to wake them up. When they navigated to the mountains, they had to cross the icy peaks, and survive the cold only with the fires they built from snow-covered wood. I wondered if I could have survived the heat and cold without the luxury of HVAC. I am so used to having air conditioning and a furnace, that I am sure I would have never survived back then. I wonder what my ancestors would say if they could see how we live now, and wonder if they would be jealous or feel sorry for our getting so soft and unable to live in nature.