Stay with me for a moment here, because this topic is a bit of a stretch. I don't have any heritage within my family for anyone that was part of the trail of tears. I'm sorry, but I'm not 1/100th Cherokee no matter how hard my Grandma Walters tried to force the point. I do, however, have some family history in people getting kicked out of their houses, getting forced to move, and a lot of suffering coming from it, and I could care less.
For those that don't know, in the history of the Mormon church we weren't always loved. Even with the flack that we get from the media at points now days, our church considers some horribly missinformed statements from news personalities a slight tap on the back compared to what has happened to us before. We're talking tar, feathers, mobs with pitchforks, and even a law that allowed us to be target practice for people, has all shown up in the church's history. Obviously people didn't like it when they would get ripped out of their bed during the middle of winter to take a bath in hot tar only to be dried off with a pile of feathers, so they left, and that's why there's a lot of us in Salt Lake. When they left, they headed west, ended up in Salt Lake, and then started populating from there.
The super kicker to all of this is that some member were not rich, so instead of taking the trip in a covered wagon, which at least provided shade as well as the ability to have animals carry the heavy load for you, some families had to pull their own stuff across the country in a hand cart.
Again, for those that have limited imagination, this sucked. Blisters everywhere, limited food, and for the first batch of people they didn't even have an idea of how long they were going to be out doing this, they just knew they were headed west and they'd stop when they were told to stop.
I have family that did this. I have a LOT of family that did this. There's even a state park in Salt Lake City called the "This is the Place" monument. When they finally showed up in Salt Lake valley, that was the place that Brigham Young said, "This is the place" and they finally got to stop walking. I have a family member on that monument because he was there with that group.
The stupid part about all of this is that these people suffered. There isn't a single story that I've ever heard that talks about having to walk that far that was sunshine and rainbows. No one enjoyed that trip. Even the most optimistic stories from those that had to travel that trail are seriously edited. Apparently no one learned about just how bad it sucked, because there is still a major push for youth in the church (at least in this area) to go on pioneer trecks.
This means that we gather up all of the kids that are 12-18 years old, throw them out in the wilderness, give them handcarts to push, and let them suffer through for about a week worth of summer heat to find out just how 'fun' it was.
No thank you.
I don't know which brain child it was that came up with this nutjob of an idea, but it's the worst thing ever that I can think about. Remember that moment in history when we were complete rejects of society and it was illegal for us to even exist? Remember how much fun it was to watch your family die around you? Remember how great it was when all of the men got drafted into a war leaving the women to push these stupidly heavy carts all on their own? Remember all of the shallow graves that were caused from starvation and disease? LET'S MAKE THAT A SUMMER CAMP!
There's not a single part of me that ever wants to go through something like that ever, and even less of me would want to go through it for 'fun'. The only way I would ever consider doing that is if the prophet of God showed up and told me that I had to, but to do it just because I've got a week off during my summer break and I'm not actually moving anything and there's no threat to my life, my family's well being, and has nothing to do with me actually moving my own stuff? No.
The logic train really goes off the rails when you start to do the logistics behind the whole thing. Walking for 10 hours while pushing a giant cart in Nebraska, where there are highs in the 80's and the elevation changes are minimal (what the original people did) versus even 6 hours out in the sun near/around Las Vegas where the highs are well above 115 in the sun while wearing period clothing that does not breath or cool you in any way while trying to push a cart through a desert of jagged rocks and hills. I have never understood why any teenager, or even any adult, would think that would be a good idea. You know what is going to make our teenagers really like our church? An activity that killed their ancestors, in a harsher condition than what their ancestors did, with no training or work up to the event at all. Let's take students who are sitting in classrooms for eight hours a day, and for a random week expect them to be in good enough condition to rival families that were farmers, blacksmiths, and other physically demanding jobs. Sounds like a great idea.
I understand that what my ancestors did for me to get where I'm at was a hard time, but that does not mean that I want to relive those times. My ancestors also survived the plague, but that doesn't mean that I want to re-live that. Where's the forced reenactments of the death caused by World War One and/or Two? That's bound to put a perk in my step and really love the person who put me into the situation to show me what bunker warfare was like. I don't get it. The worst part about not getting it, is that because I don't get it, and that I want nothing to do with hiking through the desert pushing a cart that isn't mine with a bunch of other teenagers, is that those people that LOVE doing trek try to sell me on it.
With saying that I hate one thing that I've never tried, the innocent Mormons around me turn into exactly what DARE told me to avoid. Instead of talking to me about Jesus and all things religion, they get extremely pushy about the entire thing. I've known my share of drug dealers, and they are less pushy about having me try drugs than some Mormons are about me not wanting to ever have anything to do with trek.
My favorite responses from telling people I want nothing to do with trek that could be used to sell me drugs as well -
1- Everyone is going. What are you going to do while everyone else is gone?
2- You don't know what you're missing out on.
3- I can't even explain how amazing it was. I was totally spent after I got off of it, but it was totally worth it.
4- You have to do it at least once. You can't say that you don't like something without trying it. For all you know you might really like it.
5- It's a little hard at first, but once you get over the pain it's an amazing feeling.
6- It brought me so much closer to God. It was like I could feel him.
Now, with that last one I'm toe-ing the line of being blasphemous, but here's my logic of why I laugh at that. God tells the prophet that people have to start hiking - I believe very strongly that because God told the people to do it, that He's going to make the best out of a bad situation. God did not tell you that it was essential for you to go out and roast alive in the desert while doing an antiquated activity that technology and society has since been able to remove the necessity of. You are putting yourself in a bad situation. God didn't tell you to do that. God didn't send down the angels and revelation to get you in the middle of a desert wearing clothes that are meant to be worn in the winters, you did that to yourself. He'll be around doing His thing, but do not confuse your situation for what the people before you did. You do not 'know' what they felt. You don't 'know' the support that they received because you knew that if you ever got tired there was a cooler full of ice water waiting for you along side a caravan of cars ready to give you a break. You can say that you've started to understand, but you do not know because you haven't been shot at. You haven't had your family die around you. You don't know anything at all of what they had to go through, or any support that He might have given them, because that's not your life.
No matter which way I look at a trek, unless it's the original one that God told people they had to do, it's not worth it.
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