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Alive
in the Land of Myth |
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by John Tyler Connoley |
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April 20, 2004 |
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I've met Cain and Abel.
They're alive and well, and living in New Mexico. I stayed at Cain's house
last weekend, and I'm sad to report the two are still fighting. Abel, as you may remember, is a rancher. At one time he herded sheep, but now he raises cattle. He lets them run free-range across the New Mexican landscape. It's a good life, though hard. God seems to favor him, and he's prospering. Unfortunately, his cattle tend to range a little too far sometimes. The black ones have been known to wander onto the highway at night, which can be a problem in this day of fast-moving automobiles. All of them have a tendency to break into yards and eat things they're not supposed to, which is Cain's main beef (pun intended). Cain, as you know, is a
farmer. He retired to New Mexico because he's tired of roaming. He's been
working the earth around his house (a former mining claim) for the past ten
years and he has a pretty good garden going. Of course, it's hard work
growing a garden in New Mexico. He has to capture the runoff from his gutters
and recycle his bath and dishwater. The drought has made things even tougher
and the crops haven't been great, but Cain is proud of what he's
accomplished. That's why he doesn't want Abel's cows messing things up. As
Cain puts it, "If that damn rancher doesn't keep his cattle under
control, I'm gonna do something about 'em myself." I'm pretty sure Cain
doesn't have homicide on his mind this time, but I wouldn't put bovicide past
him. New Mexican license plates
claim this is the Land of Enchantment, and it's true there's magic in the
earth out here -- in the shimmering deserts, the bubbling hot springs, the
rising mountains, and the craggy red outcroppings. However, my impression of
New Mexico is that it's the Land of Myth. This is a place where myths (those
stories that are more real than history) continue to live and be told. It's
not just Cain and Abel; it's the whole ethos of this nearly wild country. Out east and in Europe
they have History, capitol H. They have Magna Cartas and Declarations of
Independence. But here on the edge of the developing world -- so close to
prehistory -- we have stories that are bigger than mere fact. In Silver City,
we have Billy the Kid, Madame Millie, and all manner of mining stories --
tales that remind us who we are and what we believe. That's the mythic nature
of the Old West. Take the Old West story of
Hidalgo, for instance: Most reviewers writing about that Touchstone picture
missed the truth of it. They got sidetracked by whether Frank T. Hopkins
really could have participated in a 3,000-mile race across the Middle East.
They argued that the portrayal of the Sioux massacre wasn't historical, and
that Hopkins was really just a Philadelphia ditch digger with a big
imagination. But any New Mexican cowboy could tell you that Frank's stories
were real, whether or not they were exactly factual. Fact is, those stories
happened, happen, and will always happen out here. In the movie Hidalgo,
old-world purebred stuffiness gets beat by American mongrel ingenuity. That's
true in Hidalgo County, NM, as well. In the movie, grit and love overcome
money and power. Yup, that's true too. And the government can't be trusted,
whether it's American military or Islamic fiefdom. Well, that goes without
saying. Which brings us to a truly New Mexican tale -- the Roswell incident. Again, this is a story
that's bigger than mere facts. The people out here tell, retell, rethink, and
tell again the story of the alien crash landing and the government cover-up
because it's true, not because it's factual. Who knows what really happened
in that field in 1947? What we do know is that there is something more
intelligent than us everyday humans -- at least we certainly hope so. And
that intelligence, if it's not careful, will be whisked away by the powerful
to laboratories and secret underground facilities where it will be used for
nefarious purposes. It may not have happened exactly like Mac Brazel told it,
but you can be sure it happened, and will happen again. Cain understands
that, and so does Abel, but I'll bet their younger brother Seth doesn't. Seth moved to the area
fairly recently. You probably don't know much about him other than his name,
so I'll give you a little background. Seth was born much later than Cain the
farmer, and Abel the rancher. He's one of those modern industrial
entrepreneurs. He doesn't go in for stories and such, but he sure knows how
to move money around and make things happen. He likes hard facts, and
statistics that he can manipulate with a spreadsheet. He's been lobbying to
do some natural gas drilling on Abel's land, and he's planning to build a
retirement community down the road from Cain. There's some trouble of mythic
proportions brewing. Too bad Seth doesn't
believe in myths -- only history -- and he doesn't seem to see what's coming.
Of course, the rest of us in this Land of Myth know how the story ends. We've
heard it before, and we're pretty sure we'll hear it again. |
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Copyright © 2004
by John Tyler Connoley
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All
Rights Reserved |