Sunday Scribblings initiator of these story prompts is hosted by peckapalooza – the Confusing Middle.

Frontier

This is something I think about often.

Mostly spurred on with my historical reading. But it’s also because, like many others, I’m interested in life, changes, and possibilities.

Historical novels love to use Settler and Wild West themes and there is no shortage of books written, old or new. about people rushing to conquer unexplored frontiers.

You would think we would run out of new things to say about this subject but apparently not. There is good reason for this, when I think about it. Research is so much easier in our digital world. As readers we’re happy about the endless supply because our thirst for adventure is still strong.

In the days of the settlers the land seemed to go on forever. Most journeys by wagon train took months of hardship. Now, with the invention of not only the automobile but planes and trains, our world has shrunk dramatically.

When we read historical novels, (or even when we don’t,) it’s easy to be envious. I don’t think we envy the hardships but we do envy the chance to explore and discover. There’s a temptation for us to look at our world and think what else is there?

Our ancestors thought that way too, in a way. They looked at life and expected it to keep going on like it was. I was reminded of this the other day while reading another historical novel. There was scoffing at the sight of the first automobiles. Staunch die-hards were convinced, and proclaimed loud and long, that the car would never survive. Horse and buggy is here to stay, they said.

Their minds would not be able to comprehend the changes in our world over the last forty years, never mind the last hundred. Just think, in the days of horse and buggy who could have imagined the technology we now take for granted.

Just like them, it’s easy for us to think we’ve arrived. The world has been explored, the mountains have all been climbed. What can we do that hasn’t already been done.

We haven’t arrived, not by a long shot. Our civilization is on a roll. A fast roll. Ten years from now take stock. The world will be a much different place. There is so much more to be done.

And, I’m still waiting on a replicator like the one Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Star Trek USS Enterprise enjoyed. A cup of tea and a turkey sandwich please.

There are still frontiers to be explored and conquered, folks.

Dream big. I am.

Life is not over. There are places to go and bigger and better things to be done.

If life is unfulfilling and you need a dream and a challenge, look around, take stock, and be a pioneer on the frontier that is our world.