September 23rd, 2011 marked the one year anniversary of my fraternal grandfather's death. I didn't think that the anniversary would effect me as much as it did. I spent most of the day coming to terms, something I thought I had already done, with the monumental loss of basically my only male support, a trusted and loved adviser. A man who I had spent more time with in my life than any other male role model, a grandfather who was really a father. During this reflection I began to think of my ancestry and what role my individual life is playing in the grand march of time. I began to think of the current situation that our communities are facing but more importantly the problems that have come to define the region in which we live.
Appalachia is a region steeped in history, a place that helped to weave the fabric that is America. Over 200 years ago our ancestors left behind everything they had ever known, with little more than the clothes on their backs, and set off to a new world filled with promise and hope. A place where they could be measured by their will and determination to survive, a place where a man, and probably more so a woman's, true grit would be weighed. Where they could redefine the stars under which they were born to what ever they wanted them to be. They left terrible situations in Germany,England, Scotland, and Ireland. All for the hope that a better life awaited an ocean away in a strange and deadly wilderness. They made their way into the hills of the United States western frontier (then) a region which reminded them so much of the places and people that they had left behind. Through disease, natural disasters, accidents (it is pretty easy to die of something small when the nearest hospital doesn't exist) skirmishes with natives, national wars from the revolutionary to the civil, and a myriad of other unimaginable obstacles these people fought and carved out a life from the unforgiving hillside. Their ancestors would go on to become some of the nations greatest and most revered artist, thinkers, innovators, and leaders. The history of Appalachia is the history of America.
However our ancestors could never have imagined that in recent times the dreams and hopes they held for the future would become lost, stuck, and drowning in the mire that is poverty, rampant drug addiction, environmental overstress, under-education and inadequate medical care. That their ancestors would become stereotyped through modern mass media into the roles of toothless, ignorant, incestuous, violent savages. They could never foresee the self defeatist attitude that would overtake the region and become the norm for most people in Appalachia. I don't have to sit here and highlight all the problems that face our people or really how we even got to where we are today we know it all to well because we live it. That is not the message I want to pass on to people describing what went wrong and what is wrong. Rather the message that I want to pass on to people is simply one of pride.
Take pride in the fact that you come from a stock of people who were some of the most bold, fearless, and inventive people of their day, not the ignorant lot portrayed in Lil Abner, on The Beverly Hillbillies, on Jerry Springer or the nightly news . Take pride in your home and land, keep the environment clean not just your little patch ( although some are so bad people could spend a life time reclaiming their own land unfortunately) and cherish the nature that abounds around us. These hills are some of the oldest mountains in the world, they contain one of the most bio diverse hardwood forest on the planet, and they are the direct connection we have to our past and ancestors. How many generations of human beings have lived, loved, passed, and now rest in these hills? Take pride in being a good neighbor by respecting others and their property and being an active member of your community. But most importantly, because all change starts here. Take pride in YOURSELF, take care of your life physically, mentally and spiritually. Refuse to be a stereotype, refuse to become a statistic, resist the temptations of self defeat the drugs, the cycle of dependence on the government and others, the filth that comes with self loathing. Stand up against those that don't have enough pride in themselves or their history to take control of their lives don't allow them to bring you or the community down further. We don't have to take what we have been getting lately.
You see we can stand up, one united Appalachia with our sights set on a better future for all of us and a more fitting memorial for our ancestors who we owe so much. We can pay our ancestors back for their intrepid, fearless pursuit of a better life for themselves and their offspring by living a life they would be proud of, by taking all of the good qualities and principles they shared and continuing to move forward into the future. All it takes is some good old fashioned APPALACHIAN PRIDE
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