INDIAN HANNAH'S LAST RESTING PLACE
Last: closing or final; the conclusion; to endure; endurance. From Middle English latst, late, from Anglo Saxon laet, slow or late, related to Middle English lasten, from Anglo Saxon laestan, to accomplish, follow, endure, literally to follow closely in track, from last, a footprint.
Reference: Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary.
What a long history for such a short word! It seems that the short, old words have a lot packed into them - they have been with us since the beginning and they are full of cultural meaning which we usually don't recognize. In American culture "last" is generally viewed as a bad thing to be! No wonder - "closing" - "final" - "to endure" - they don't sound like pleasant experiences! But if we look back all the way to the original meaning then we might get a different perspective - "following closely in a track", "following a footprint", those ideas bring to mind the Lenape and their trails that criss-crossed Penn's Woods long before the white men came. That original meaning also summons up an image of people working together, marching in step. Maybe we should all be trying to be last instead of first - taking our lead from successful people and societies, rather than trying to be in front making up the rules to suit ourselves.
Here are some things that are, were, or may be "last".
- Indian Hannah was at one time said to be the last of her tribe. That's her grave pictured above. In reality many Lenape moved to the Indian Territories along with other east coast tribes like the Cherokee. Perhaps it relieved some European guilt to think that all the Lenape were gone from the planet? Hannah died on March 20, 1802 in the Chester County poor house, and was buried near by. With her passing the white men were free to forget the Lenape and the peaceful, sharing relationship that William Penn had begun with them.
- All the Immigrants who are always the "last" ones to have arrived. Those living here always seem to think that the last (most recent) immigrants will be the last (final) immigrants, but there always seem to be more who want to come to the New World.
- All the individuals who were the last of their species. The highest extinction rates in the world are in the New World. Of course now they are in South America, but many speicies are gone from the Schuylkill Valley, as well. No one alive will ever see a woods buffalo, for instance. Of course not all extinctions are bad news - no one is lamenting that the only two known samples of smallpox are locked up in Atlanta and Moscow, are they? Mankind has come to have far more impact on the ecosystem than any other species - we now co-opt 40% of the total photosynthetic production of the world. No wonder so many species have been squeezed out of existence!
- Our last chance to straighten out our relationships with the environment's natural systems
If we don't want to be the last generation to enjoy the fruits of technology then we need to quickly adopt lifestyles base upon sustainable use of resources. You may want to explore online information relating to sustainability. Certainly we want to last and endure, and to do so our resources must last also.
- But that's too much doom and gloom...there are plenty of good "lasts" - mostly things to look forward to - like the last war, the last starving child, the last nuclear weapon destroyed, the last killer disease wiped out....maybe you can help make one of them happen, eh? Or maybe it's more than one person can do, and we need to work together on creating a new sense of global Community, and maybe the Web is a piece of that process....
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