Change is always coming, so embrace it or be destroyed by it

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Not very long ago I had the good fortune of winning the door prize at a local meeting. Winning allowed me to select one of the books that was offered, and I judiciously selected “Empire of the Summer Moon — Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches.”

I love to read, but I do so much reading associated with my job I do not read for pleasure as much as I would like. While amid taking a few days off from work, I found myself a cool place in the shade and dove into the book about the last great Comanche chief and the story of the Comanches.

The book was a real page turner. The historical accuracy was indeed impressive and the firsthand accounts, attributable only through countless hours of dedicated research by the author, truly added to this readers experience. I devoured the book, and because it was so well done, I thirsted for more. I heartily recommend this title as an entertaining and informative read.

I knew the Comanche were fierce warriors, and perhaps the best light cavalry the world has ever seen. I had previous knowledge of their tenacity in battle and the fear they struck in the hearts of their enemies. I understood they were famous for torturing their captives and the sheer brutality of their behavior.

What I came to understand was how self-absorbed and arrogant the governments and people were who entered the Comanche territories. The Spanish and later the Americans, could not defeat the Comanche for many years. They suffered defeat after humiliating defeat though they were better supplied, better equipped and had greater resources.

They did not understand why the Comanche would not stand and fight like Western armies.  They failed to grasp how Comanche could raid and utilize their horses to escape and be 50 miles away in a few short hours. Mexico and later the U.S. government would send large contingents of weighted down infantry to fight one of the most mobile societies the world has ever known. They failed to understand using Western means would not defeat an enemy that did not fight in a European style.

Looking back, the governments look foolish. They failed to understand the Comanche only had two purposes, and that was to hunt and to do battle. Their culture, their lives, and their every thought process was directed to those two aspects of life. They had no government, little societal structure or order, and nearly no religious beliefs or practices. They were warriors and everything in their culture was obtained or lost through battle. Surrender was never a consideration because every conflict was a fight to the death.

Comanche loved getting the white man’s “gifts” but they never truly considered they would fulfill a treaty and stop living their lives as warriors and nomads who ruled over millions of acres of prairie. The Comanche had done so for generations, and the thought of becoming farmers or living in a house in one location was as foreign to them as a mule sprouting wings and learning to fly.

Eventually the Westerners learned the Comanche ways. Between exterminating the buffalo, and destroying their source of horses, the Comanche were defeated. The Comanche seemingly never accepted the inevitable change coming to the west. Their failure to see the change and adapt, led to the end of their civilization. The world changed and the Comanche refused, clinging to a past that manifest destiny destroyed.

There is a lesson to be learned in the story of the Comanche. Some people may have a different perspective than others because of their life experiences. It does not make them wrong, nor does it make them right. It simply makes them different. Instead of proclaiming “different” to automatically be an enemy, perhaps we should try and understand the other fella’s perspective, and why they feel the way they do. Instead of making an enemy, perhaps there is common ground we can all stand on. When we disagree, even fervently disagree, perhaps we can respect the other person’s viewpoint.

Change is constant. To cling to the past keeps us from moving forward toward the future. It is sometimes frightening and life-altering. Whether we want it, like it, or accept it, change is always coming. 

Someday, perhaps change will lead us to a place where we can all live in peace.

Thought for the day: Learn to accept people for who they are, not who you want them to be.

Until next time.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260