To Be A Pioneer

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah!  That means no work!  And that opens up the day to a million possibilities of things to do!

But that requires planning.  And planning requires foreknowledge.  And foreknowledge was something I lacked regarding and coming into Pioneer Day.  Yes, being from outside of Utah, and this being only my second summer in Utah, and working for an international market last summer despite living in Utah, I was not aware that the majority of Utah shuts down for Pioneer Day.  And they, knowing that it did, planned all of these fun activities, one of which was not work.  So imagine my surprise when I show up to work, expecting to work, and the building is closed.  That makes it hard to work.  Oh well...  What better way to celebrate the pioneers who settled the West than to leave the comfort of your home and walk a great distance in immense heat for something you’re unfamiliar with and not even guaranteed to obtain?

This morning my roommate was watching the Pioneer Day Parade on the TV.  A cute little commemoration activity they did was to have people send in reasons why they don’t think they could have been pioneers.  People responded with things like, “I need warm showers,” “That was too long to walk,” and “They didn’t have properly maintained baseball fields to play on.”  Aside from the baseball comment which encompasses an eternal truth and necessity, many people pointed out basic comforts and privileges that we daily enjoy that they would not want to live without.  In addition to being a fun idea, it got me thinking about the sacrifices of the pioneers.  Indeed, they gave up many things they had grown accustomed to having.  But they did so knowing that whatsoever was lost would be replaced with something better.  They were willing to leave behind things that they held dear.  But they held instead to the belief that something dearer awaited them should they choose to trust in what they knew to be right, no matter the cost.  And a century and a half later, we see the results of them having done so.  Their legacy is evident in the growth and prosperity of settlements throughout the western United States, despite harsh and unforgiving circumstances.  None of this came immediately or easily.  Nor would it have happened had they held on to what they knew and refused to hope and leave for something better.

I admire and feel gratitude towards many pioneers, and not just those that earned the title through physical relocation.  Whether it be physically, intellectually, morally, religiously, or in countless other ways, it is through pioneering that we see progress.  It is because of forays into the unknown that the unknown becomes known.  And it is through this process that advancement is made.  

So I rephrase my previous question:  What better way to celebrate pioneering than to leave what is comfortable for something you’re unfamiliar with and not even guaranteed to obtain?  Or, even more simply, what better way to honor pioneering than to be a pioneer yourself?  To be a pioneer doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to revolutionize the way something is done or understood on a worldwide scale.  It doesn’t even mean that we have to be the first ever to do something.  Much of the pioneering that is within our capacity is personal.  An act of personal pioneering would be one in which we blaze a new trail in our own lives—in which we do something differently than we have done it previously.  This could be in the way that we treat other people or one person in particular.  It could be in the way that we make decisions.  It could be a departure from a longheld tradition or vice, personal or otherwise.  Or it could simply be in doing something that we haven’t before.  So long as we leave what was past and attempt to begin anew, this is, in our own lives and for our own purposes, an act of pioneering.  Perceiving our situation in the light of sacrifice towards advancement allows us to change it just as effectively and powerfully as did the pioneers.  We simply have to recognize what needs to be sacrificed and be willing to do so.  And often times, when we improve ourselves through personal pioneering, we increase our capacity to affect others for the better.  In the name of progress, find something to pioneer and head out to do so.  


Nowadays, we don’t really get the chance to sacrifice all of our physical comforts to go and settle ‘Zion’ as did many of our predecessors.  But on a day-to-day basis, we do get the chance to sacrifice (or adjust) the components of our current situation in favor of a new and better one.  Not everything needs to be sacrificed, mind you.  Some things should be in our lives to stay.  But as we see (and/or feel) the need for change and trust that we are able to do so, we move step-by-step towards our Zion, just like the pioneers before us.   

Happy Pioneer Day.