I was raised in upstate New York, educated there, then worked in the Philadelphia area for 21 years. I am, as they say where I now live, "Definitely from Back East". These facts have been the source of some difficulty in my quest for a little bit of acceptance, but I have had no difficulty in finding tolerance - apparently for my differences. Where I now live, "Different" is "The Same", as many people here, actually most people here are "Different".
For the last five years, I have lived in the Great State of Montana. If you go to the website of Montana (http://www.montana.gov/, or something like that) you will be greeted by an image of the State Seal. If you look closely, it reads "The Great Seal of the State of Montana".
I'm sort of thinking that somebody meant to write "The Seal of the Great State of Montana".
In my humble opinion, the Seal isn't that Great. But the State is. I love Montana ( as did John Steinbeck, who said - and I paraphrase - "For many states I have admiration, even affection, but for Montana, it is true love." ).
I love this stuff, like the "Great Seal", or the sign, hand-painted with a spray paint can on the pavement outside my workplace by a friend of mine - a graduate of Montana State University Bozeman - that reads: "NO! Parking". I wish, for the last five years, that I had carried a camera around to capture all of the signs, plaques, etc. that I have encountered that have misspellings, malapropisms, inappropriate punctuation, etc. that have totally changed the intended meaning of the message. Or the signs that simply say something you don't see that often.
Like the sign on the door of my workplace that has a picture, inside a red circle, with a red slash through it of a Ruger SP101 .357 Magnum revolver with spurless hammer, and the words "No Weapons".
I work in health care, and had never worked in a place with such a sign on every door.
In way of explanation, a resident of Montana may carry a sidearm without a permit just so long as it is in plain view. One may carry a concealed firearm with a permit issued by the Sheriff's Department of the county of one's residence. To obtain such a permit, one must pass a firearms safety course (Hunter Safety would suffice), pass a federal background check, and be photographed and finger-printed.
So if an institution or place of business prefers that you not be packing while patronizing their establishment, they put a sign to this effect on the door. Interestingly, I have only seen this sign on the door to my workplace and nowhere else.
In Montana, it is said that "Gun Control" means using both hands.
But, mind you, real Montanans see the intended message on first viewing the sign, plaque, newspaper article, or whatever else. And it takes them less time to figure it out than it takes me - I have to translate before I can understand. They (the real Montanans) are adapted to their environment, and get on quite well.
These are not unintelligent people, but many more Montanans (by percentage when compared to my experience "Back East") may have varying degrees of Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Visual Perception Disorder, Auditory Perception Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, Depression, Bipolar Affective Disorder, or a variety of these, or other things that "Intellectuals" have decided are "Learning Disorders" or "Psychiatric Disorders".
It should be noted that native intelligence has no relationship whatsoever to learning disability. There are very intelligent people who have learning disabilities. (It is, however, a most cruel myth that all learning-disabled people are of above-average or exceptional intelligence. There are those of above-average native intelligence that are learning-disabled, and those that are not learning disabled. There are also those of lower native intelligence who are learning disabled, and those who are not.).
Some characteristics, such as beauty, intelligence, or strength are in large part hereditary. The rules say we cannot change our (biological) parents, so we are given what we are given, and can't rightfully take credit for possession of these traits.
Some of these combinations may be seen as a "Bad Thing".
They should not. They just "happen", or exist. Nobody's fault. But, unfortunately. there are those in other categories that would exploit the "Bad Combination" people.
Fortunately, these "Bad Combination" people are more tolerated in Montana, or even loved rather than exploited. They fit in here. It has been my experience that there are just not as many Mean People per capita here as I had encountered "Back East".
Why, one might ask, are there so many of these people with the "Disorders" mentioned above - and whom I love so dearly - here "Out West" as compared to "Back East"?
Here, after a long and tedious preamble, we get to the subject matter as stated in the title to this piece.
A Brief History of the New World:
The human species, homo sapiens, got its start in Africa.
Some of these people were wanderers, so they walked up to southern Europe, along the southern, then the eastern coast of Asia, across the Bering Strait (mind you, this was before Global Warming) to North America. This took them a very long time, and they did it a very long time ago. They still got here a long time before the Africans that walked up to Europe and faded.
Some of the early humans in Africa, as noted, walked up to Europe. Their skin faded, and they became Norwegians and Germans and Italians and such.
Over time, some of these people in Europe got itchy to go somewhere or do something else. The ones that actually acted out and moved to North America were not your average bland, careful people. They were a subset of the population that took risks, committed crime, adopted off-beat religious beliefs, were hyperactive, etc..
These people were "one bubble off level", and they moved to the East Coast of North America.
After some time, others emerged on the East Coast that were two or three "bubbles" off.
They moved West, had children who had children, and so on, producing the people that I know and love out here.
There, in a nutshell, is all you need to know about the history of the New World.
And I no longer use a spirit level. I've decided to stay.
Peace
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