The similarities and situations between the Donner Party and the colonial
Pilgrims is both appalling, frightening, and incomplete. In both cases you'll
find, one, a fairly large group of ill-prepared greenhorns pitting themselves
against nature and each other, two, an insufficient willingness to endure the
very real hardships of frontiering and, three, coinsidential misfortune at every
turn. Number three, coinsidential misfortune at every turn. Disasters at both
camps were initially brought about by departure, delay, and desert inertia;
which caused our heroes to begin their journeys at absolutely retarded times
weatherwise. If fantasy is the refuge of a frightened man, and a castle in the
air is a safe harbor for a foolish few, just imagine living in a hut buried
twelve feet below the snow, with the sight and smell of the scattered carcasses
of loved ones at your feet; it is the lay of the land, just another day. I would
like to propose that cannibalism was indeed rampant among America's earliest
settlers: The Pilgrims. For what does settler imply, if not the willingness to
settle? To settle for a meal of human flesh if my thoughts on the subject are to
be believed. In conclusion, spread the word of this. Look to the night sky, and
hark back to our forefathers' shortcomings, and your own, as you cut your meat
and lay the groundwork for a new tomorrow.
