A Sad History

 I watched the three-part series about the Hatfields and McCoys on the History Channel. Although I found it hard to watch after a while, I stuck it out until the end because I wanted to see how this feud was resolved. My difficulties with it had to do with the amount of hatred and misery portrayed. The men drank until they were witless idiots, killed someone from the opposite family, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose, spawning more liquor fueled revenge schemes. And on and on it went, until the patriarchs of both families lost most of their sons and many of their daughters. I turned off the TV after the last episode and though I had no doubt there was much truth to this dramatization, I wondered what was the point of all this feuding? Sad and depressing, so many lives wasted.

I understand that this can happen any time, not just in days past. Nowadays it's called gang warfare. Or genocide. I will simply say the story stayed with me for some time after.

--Cat