Blood Stains

In letters, "Bleeding Kansas": A Southern View, by Axalla John Hoole, a man is writing to his family about life in the Midwest for a southerner. Reading his reaction to the events unfolding is actually comforting though. To think of slavery expanding into the Midwest, with territories such as Kansas, is nerve racking. Sadly though, this rational is quintessential of a typical American today. This type of manifest destiny still seems to exist in our present culture. The idea behind expanding and forcing our American beliefs on any people we encounter, and to have law of all lands abide by what we believe as opposed to what works. It's sad to know that any type of conflict the original westerners encountered ended up with violent conflict. The need to fight and kill something seemed to dictate their actions more so than their need to have their values. Its almost as if I'm reading about three year old boys fighting over who gets to own a shiny new toy. I just can't understand where all of this anger and rage stemmed from. I do not understand why there was like some kind of innate capacity for death of others in such a way that seems inhumane. The more I read about our nations history, the more enraged I seem to become. The problem is even after honestly trying to reason and rationalize the decisions that were made, I am still completely confused. I can't seem to wrap my head around this concept of, if someone opposes what you are trying to do with your life, that person should just die. It doesn't seem like any of these settlers even bothered with diplomatically working out their differences. This is exactly the type of behavior that seems to stick to all Americans when being perceived by other nations, and it's ridiculous that I am personally be judged by a standard that was apparent over one hundred years ago.