Hard knocks aren't all bad

Don't know about you all but this has seemed like an extra cold winter. Normally start the plants for our garden from mid-January till we plant in April and May but this year I'm behind. It has just been almost too cold in my work buildings to get the temp to stay above 70 degrees which is almost required to start seeds. Man it has seemed cold. I went out one day last week and wind chill was down around zero. I have a heavy winter coat on and it just didn't seem thick enough.

As I went to bed last night I thought about those who settled our country. I crawled in a nice warm bed where we have an electric blanket. Our bedroom was cool but not frigid. I've read where some who settled the country in Nebraska where I grew up lived in tents for the first year or so. I don't see how they did it. Most of them didn't have wood to burn so they had to burn cow chips. And even though they might have had a stove in the tent it was cold. Man I mean cold. Them suckers were tough. Tough and I mean tough. The women and the men were tough.

The only way they got to the Sandhills where I grew up was by wagons which were pulled by either oxen or horses or mules. Most were by horses. And no matter what the weather they were right out there in it. So no matter if it rained or snowed or hailed or was hotter than heck they were out there in it. I always figured they would sleep in the wagons but I'll bet the wagons were filled with necessities to homestead. And when you figure the wagons were say three feet wide by 8 feet long or so they didn't have much room for beds and luxuries. This was bare essential living. But one thing that this rough tough lifestyle did was to make the settlers tough.

I bought a book several years ago that has a whole bunch of short stories about guys who drove cattle from down in Texas up to Nebraska. The stories tell about how everything they owned was on their horse. Many of them didn't have a change of clothes or another pair of boots. Most had a slicker to shed the rain and some had coats. They didn't have a sleeping bag or a tent. They had a bedroll and they slept under the stars with their saddle and gear whether it was raining or whatever.

Some didn't make it. Many died of sickness or accidents along the trail. Some were injured in accidents involving their horses and the cattle. Some were hurt or killed in weather related incidents. Some probably got snakebit. It was a rough lifestyle. Most of the time their menu was beans of one kind or another and a piece of cow meat cooked over an open fire. Many times they had biscuits but they were probably more like hockey pucks. Coffee was strong and hot and almost always had grounds floating around in the cup. But those who survived were real men. There weren't any drugstore cowboys in the bunch.

I think about the mountain men who explored our great country with little more than their clothes and their gun and knife. Many suffered frostbite and lost limbs and such. Many were killed by hostiles whether they be Indians or rival mountain men. One of my favorite movies is Jeremiah Johnson which paints a decent picture of the lifestyle of the mountain men. We like to fantasize about the romantic aspect of the mountain man lifestyle but most of us couldn't make it. We simply aren't tough enough.

So does hardship create character? I think it can. Sometimes hardship creates a "poor me" attitude which doesn't add a flip to building character. But hardship can also create an "I'm going to make it" attitude which builds character.

One by one we are losing those who lived through the Great Depression or were raised by those who lived through it. One by one we are losing those who lived through WW1 and WW2. There are still a few left who were raised by those who immigrated into the US after the turn of the 1900s. Not many today can say they lived in a sod house. Some can say they grew up butchering their own hogs and beef but that number is getting smaller and smaller. Not many today can say they attended a one room school house with 9 grades being taught in the same room. Even the number who have a garden and grow their own vegetables is shrinking. Some grow as a hobby but not out of necessity.

Marie Sandoz, a Nebraska author, writes historical fiction about happenings on the prairies in Nebraska and the Dakotas. Sandoz wrote a book on Crazy Horse and she used firsthand accounts of those who actually knew Crazy Horse. Another book was on the slaughter of the buffalo and this was from firsthand accounts. Sandoz has passed away as have those who gave these firsthand accounts. History is dying around us and I at times wonder if the character and self-sufficiency is dying with them.

I guess let's not grumble so much about the hardships but realize they just might be making us and our kinfolk tougher and more complete.