Autumn means off-season for many places, which is exactly when I like to wander, visit, and poke around…

Over the last couple of months I’ve crossed the ocean to the Azores,

taken a boat ride up the Potomac at night,

the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard,

walked along the Ohio River in Cincinnati,

and crossed bridges to visit Maine students living on islands.

I believe traveling, like reading, challenges you to be a better, more empathetic person by taking you outside yourself and beyond your comfort zone.

Last month, my husband, Erik, and I visited Plimoth Plantation on the banks of the Eel River overlooking Cape Cod Bay. For those who have never been, Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum with reenactors representing the original “Pilgrim” settlers on one side of the campus…

and native members of the Wampanoag and other Native Nations educating guests over at the Wampanoag Homesite.

The last couple of times Erik and I visited Plimoth Village, our children, who are now grown and on their own, were children.

Before that,
I was a child when I visited.

This time, as an older adult filled with curiosity and a need for clarification, I asked the Pilgrim reenactors and the Wampanoag staff members lots and lots of questions.  All of them answered authentically, revealing the complexities and struggles that came with life-changing persecution, exile, and subsequent invasions during the early 1600s.

Toward the end of the day, Erik and I were sitting in a cozy Wampanoag long house with about 30 other visitors. A lovely Wampanoag woman was telling us the most engaging stories and answering questions about the culture and traditions. A boy raised his hand and stood up, anxious to be seen. He was 1 of approximately 900 other students visiting Plimoth Plantation that day from area schools.

“When did
the Indians stop attacking the Pilgrims?” he wanted to know.

The adults fell silent, stunned by the question, as the young woman’s shoulders rolled forward. She sighed. Her gaze floated around the room and landed on the fire she stoked to keep us warm.

Eventually, she looked over at the boy and smiled kindly, compassionately.

“That’s a
very interesting question,” she said “because that is not how things happened. Maybe
your teacher needs to go back, after spending the day here, and discuss what
was actually going on at the time.”

This Thanksgiving, nothing is more important than teaching your children to explore the truth about history.  From other perspectives. Outside yourself, beyond your comfort zone. Only then, can we begin to understand and celebrate our shared humanity.

“What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?” (Massasoit, leader of the Wampanoag in 1620 at the time the Pilgrims arrived.)

(Photo Credits: Original & Google Images)

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