Grumpy Old Man?

My wife said tonight that when she first read some of my earliest blog posts, she thought I was being very grumpy. She said I ought to rename my blog "Grumpy Old Man." LOL.
Well, I suppose I DO get grumpy but honestly, it gets so tiring to hear people blather on and play so loose with the facts or with common sense. I mean, if a fellow can't get it off his chest in his blog - where can you go?
Anyway, I watched the History channel's special "Desperate Crossings" which tells the story of the Pilgrims. They did a good job giving the background of the reason WHY they wanted to come to America. I learned some stuff which is always a good thing. But in one part they had some native American woman say that colonization from Europeans deprived her people of their God-given right to live the way they wanted to. And while I wouldn't necessarily deny that statement out of hand, it made me start thinking about why I always feel so testy when listening to native Americans complain about what happened to them.
First, let me say categorically, that I think that the destruction of their cultures by disease and being pushed off of their land was a terrible blow to their people. You would have to be an idiot to deny that! But I WASN'T there. I didn't make those decisions and hopefully, might have made different ones.
But in my opinion, it was almost inevitable as the world began to shrink. Does anyone REALLY think that Europeans or other peoples would have stayed away from North and South America forever? If the British and French had not colonized North America, the Spanish would have eventually gotten around to it. And the Dutch, Russians or Portuguese would have brought diseases with them just as easily as the British did - frankly anyone from off continent would have innocently brought diseases the indigenous peoples would have had problems with. Nobody did it on purpose! They didn't even know what caused diseases or how to prevent them. How could they have deliberately brought disease as a way to "get rid of the Indians?" Frankly, they just didn't have the know how to do it.
So if the Pilgrims had not landed, somebody else WOULD HAVE a decade or two later. And as callous and inconsiderate as the British were, the Spanish conquistadors would have been FAR WORSE! Just look at how they hit the Aztecs, Incas and peoples of South and Central America. They took what they wanted and exterminated anyone who even remotely might have gotten in their way - just to be sure! The pilgrims, for the MOST part, treated their neighbors with honor and respect (perhaps out of fear at first but so what?). There was that corn stealing incident and a few graves opened up when they first explored Cape Cod but after that - things were much better. Later, Roger Williams (who founded the colony of Rhode Island), befriended the Indians and was well liked by them, treating the indigenous peoples with respect and dignity. And let us not forget how eager the Wampanoags were to have an alliance with the pilgrims so they would more secure in the face of some rowdy neighboring tribes. I believe much the same happened again in the settling of Connecticut - Indians invited the English to settle so that they would help protect them from a fierce tribe in the area. So the British didn't always steal the land it would seem. Though it is undeniable that as the colonies began to thrive, the lands of the Indians were taken from them.
That's not cool - I'm not saying it was. But honestly, how would it have turned out any differently? The only way they could have preserved their way of life COMPLETELY intact would have been to not have ANY settlers at all anywhere on the continent. Sorry, but I really don't believe that would have happened. We live in a changing and shrinking world - we are constantly told - but somehow, native Americans think that the world should have passed them by and left them alone. I honestly don't think that is a realistic thought - thus it is a waste of emotional energy. Life is change. Some changes are unwelcome, some are not. What can you do? Often, not much. Trying to stop settlement would have been like trying to hold back the tide. Pretty much a futile effort. Maybe instead of pining for what could have been, we need to find a way to help them become O.K. with the changes that have overtaken them. I honestly don't know how to do that - but I DO get tired of hearing them bash the pilgrims, calling them genocide soldiers... Rubbish! History doesn't bear that out. OTHER colonists that came along later may deserve that more and the Spanish conquerors certainly deserve all the bad press they get...
Awww, I dunno - I'll probably get trounced in comments but honestly - is it really healthy to dwell on what happened 2 1/2 centuries ago? I dunno - seems like a waste of time to me - and it tends to make me a little testy to have to hear it again.