I think there is a common perception that because the folks in this state largely use their hands and muscles to make a living, we are an uneducated group of people. While there is a large part of our population who don't have college degrees, it would be a mistake to assume our folks are uneducated. Because we have long winters the great majority of us read. We read a lot! I think if the personal libraries of Wyoming folks were gathered into one collection, it would be a very impressive collection indeed. While we are proud of those in our state who have secondary degrees, neither are we overly impressed. Largely we assess a person by how they treat their fellow man, their animals and the land. It's not that we don't have the capacity to be honest about our shortcomings. We are well aware of our native quirks but we do have feelings about those who come to our state for the mineral trade and complain bitterly about the climate while they rape our land and make a very comfortable living. They complain too that there is nothing to do, so they shoot the wildlife for fun, and take their mud bogging trucks into the fragile desert and destroy in thirty minutes what it took mother nature a hundred years to create and will take another hundred to repair! I think they are lucky to be here and that they should try to live the old adage "when in Rome".
Of course this is a generalization. It is not to all of those who come to this great state that we take amiss. Once in a while one encounters a newcomer who if you didn't know better you would think is one of our own. I happen to know just such a person. I always feel rather grateful when I meet someone like this. At last a newbie who refrains from disparaging remarks about the land I love. He is a son of the south, but it seems to me when he came to our state, he came ready to embrace it. No arrogance or condescension there, he looks at our little town with eyes of wonder. Wyoming is a grand adventure to him and the pictures he posts from time to time are scenes that I have seen my whole life and while I do love our vistas, one can get tunnel vision when living in a place this long. It is refreshing to see these scenes through the eyes of someone who approaches them in the spirit of a pioneer who is settling a new country. He observes Wyoming eccentricities without judgement and is delightfully amused or incredulous depending on the circumstances. Always a gentleman, soft spoken, never stooping to meet us. He is a quiet scholar and so unpossessed is he that some would never guess I think; that he is one who is capable of true nobility and greatness of thought.
This is not an easy place to adjust to. The climate is difficult and harsh, the economy is feast or famine and the people are not always kind. True Wyoming natives are usually welcoming and helpful, but they are staring to fade into the background as more and more we are becoming a community of newcomers, folks that would rather be anyplace then here but stay because they can make a living. If I could have my wishes come true, I would wish that all sojourners to this state would take a lesson from my friend.
If It was a different age I would have him knighted as comrade and protector of the realm. If he were younger I would adopt him! But I think because I have lived here my whole life and I am the fifth generation of my family who has, I will just make him an honorary Wyoming native. He would be embarrassed to be singled out and he doesn't stand on ceremony, but if I can ever get him to let me buy him dinner I will lift a glass to him and say "Welcome from the bottom of my heart!"
