{"id":1136,"date":"2012-06-10T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2012-06-10T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1136"},"modified":"2012-06-10T11:33:11","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T16:33:11","slug":"feudin-fussin-and-fightin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1136","title":{"rendered":"Feudin’, Fussin’, and Fightin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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According to the June 15 edition of Entertainment Weekly Magazine <\/em>last week\u2019s History Channel\u2019s six-hour miniseries Hatfields and McCoys<\/em> became the highest rated basic cable entertainment program ever. \u00a0We Americans love a good fight \u2013 especially one that goes on and on and on. \u00a0<\/p>\n

This show brought back some memories for me since we lived in Appalachia some thirty-five years ago near the very area where all the feudin\u2019, fussin\u2019, and fightin\u2019 took place.\u00a0 Actually, I even wrote some articles about the feud when I had a weekly history column for the Sentinel Echo Newspaper in London, KY called Patterns of the Past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I dug out my dusty scrap book and reread them, then watched the History Channel documentary that preceded the miniseries.\u00a0 I like to get the facts before I watch a movie and see how they distort them.\u00a0 Plus, I was curious to compare the documentary with what my research revealed thirty-five years ago when I had to actually read books to get the information instead of surf the net.<\/p>\n

I was happy that my research revealed much of what was covered in the documentary and the movie did not disappoint.\u00a0 Of course, some creative license is always taken to tell a good story.\u00a0 Just ask any man how big the fish was that got away. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the movie did its best to include the main points of the feud even if they were a bit jumbled:\u00a0 the Civil War, a stolen pig, land and timber rights, an out of wedlock pregnancy, the McCoy boys stabbing a Hatfield 26 times before shooting him, the Hatfields retaliating with an execution of the perpetrators, bounties put on the Hatfields heads, burning down the McCoy\u2019s house on New Year\u2019s Day, neighbors taking sides, Kentucky and West Virginia disputing, \u00a0Supreme Court involvement, a trial, hanging the one who shouldn\u2019t have died \u2013 just your everyday murder and mayhem \u2013 except in a mountainous terrain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now these were not vicious outlaws.\u00a0 There were no \u201cgood guys\u201d and \u201cbad guys.\u201d\u00a0 Believe it or not, these were hospitable and friendly people.\u00a0 They tried to use the law and courts at the time to settle disputes.\u00a0 What they lacked in book learning they made up for with horse sense.\u00a0 They ran successful businesses. \u00a0And although historians make it clear that no one knows how the feud actually started, obviously seeds of discord were gradually planted.\u00a0 One thing led to another and before long it was all out of control.\u00a0 Emotions, imputed motives, and grudges escalated into anger, rage, and revenge.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s my point \u2013 it can happen to anyone.\u00a0 Perhaps not to the same extent of the Hatfields and McCoys because they were in a secluded environment with a distorted concept of family loyalty during a time when guns were a part of everyday life, but how many of us jump to conclusions, hop on bandwagons, make snap decisions, and take sides without having all the facts \u2013 then justify our actions?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so much easier to retaliate than \u201clove our enemies\u201d when they are accusing us falsely, \u201csettle with an adversary quickly\u201d when we think we are in the right, and going the \u201cextra mile\u201d when we didn\u2019t even want to go the first mile. (Matthew 5)\u00a0 These are not easy things to do.\u00a0 And frankly I wonder if anyone can do them without God leading them to do so.<\/p>\n

Yet if we ever wonder what happens when we don\u2019t inculcate these biblical principles into our lives, just think of the Hatfields and McCoys.\u00a0 When we let circumstances spiral out of control there are no winners \u2013 only losers.\u00a0 Even the Hatfields and McCoys finally realized this.\u00a0 That\u2019s why in Pikeville, KY on June 14, 2003, after 125 years of feuding sixty descendants of the original clans signed a document declaring an official end to the hatred and bloodshed.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The treaty reads:\u00a0 \u201cWe do hereby and formally declare an official end to all hostilities, implied, inferred, and real, between the families, now and forevermore. We ask by God’s grace and love that we be forever remembered as those that bound together the hearts of two families to form a family of freedom in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signing this paper is a symbolic gesture, but a step in the right direction.\u00a0 However, the real change happens when we internalize what Jesus taught and let it be manifest in our actions.\u00a0 Only then will the feudin\u2019, fussin\u2019, and fightin\u2019 stop.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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According to the June 15 edition of Entertainment Weekly Magazine last week\u2019s History Channel\u2019s six-hour miniseries Hatfields and McCoys became the highest rated basic cable entertainment program ever. \u00a0We Americans love a good fight \u2013 especially one that goes on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}