Kansas Day

Today is Kansas Day, the anniversary of the day Kansas became a state.

The Kindergarten class has been talking about the state symbols:

Buffalo

Meadowlark

Sunflower

Cottonwood

Ornate Box Turtle

Our state song is Home on the Range.

Our motto is "Ad astra per aspera" or "To the stars through difficulties".

When that motto was chosen, I'm guessing that those choosing were referring to difficulties experienced between those who wanted Kansas to be a slave state, and those who wanted Kansas to be a free state. Or they could have referred to the difficulties of beginning a farm in the middle of a vast prairie. I doubt they were acknowledging the unconscionable difficulties they had caused to those who called this land home long before any white people even thought about this place

Before we were a state, or had any state symbols, buffalo roamed freely in huge herds. Meadowlarks sang. The state was mostly grassland crossed by rivers and streams, a land that fed and sheltered several people groups. If I put my home address into a web site that shows who used to live where we now live, I find that the Osage, the Wichita, the Sioux, and the Commanche all may have sustained their lives on the land where I now live. The Kansa group, for which the state was named, lived near here.

By the time our ancestors arrived here, those people groups had all been forcibly moved from this area. Our forbearers were told there was land to farm in Kansas, and that farmers were welcome here. I don't know what they knew about why this land was available to farm. 

The Homestead Act was approved in 1862, but the land we live on was not given as a homestead until 1880. It was given by the United States of America and by the President R. B. Hayes, according to the abstract, which shows who first homesteaded on this land. They were given the land in return for a promise to build a home and till land. No money was required for this gift. They lived here for 24 years before selling it to the next family, who lived on it and farmed it for two generations, 55 years. It then was purchased by Chuck's family, who had it for about 11 years before the house and several acres were sold. Seventeen years later, Chuck and I bought it, and we've been here 33 years. 

So, we own it, legally, but not spiritually. 

What does that even mean?

I know owning land is a big thing. It is an odd thing. This land has been here and will be here regardless of whether we are here. 

It is beautiful. It is high ground, so sunrises and sunsets are spectacular on any day it isn't overcast, which is most days. Wild sunflowers will grow anywhere they can find a little open ground to seed themselves. Meadowlarks sit on the electrical wires and sing their amazing songs. It is more than a person can own.

My children grew up here. Me too, in many ways. But it isn't mine. Maybe we belong to it in somehow, but it will be here long after we are gone, and those after us as well.

It seems odd to call this a birthday, when what we commmemorate is based on injustice.

At the same time, it is right to celebrate a place that is so good.

Happy birthday, Kansas, whatever that means.