This year one of our goals on the journey was to seek out some of the cultural and historical sites that the desert southwest has to offer. For Katie and myself, our public school education conspicuously lacked much of an indigenous history component.
We want to make certain that Finn experiences the places and the artifacts that remain, and fully understands the history of how this nation came to be. There are beautiful stories, and there are horror stories, and we will meter them out as is appropriate.
But we feel strongly that to be an informed citizen of the United States, he must realize that there were people here before us, and that those people are still here.
So what better day than Thanksgiving to set out on a 6 mile hike to a remote canyon to experience the awe of petroglyphs. The wonder is twofold: you are in the presence of the people that survived this harsh land for millennia, and you are in that particular place that those people, with their keen eyes, found more special for some reason than all the rest.
We felt thankful for where we are, what we have, and the good situation that our family is in, while so many others are struggling.
