The Melting Point: The Importance of the Frontier
Growing up, my favorite movies were undoubtedly Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier and the sequel Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Somewhere in my old bedroom back home lies the well worn remains of my coonskin cap. Three or four "long rifles" inhabit my closet. A real tomahawk lives in my dresser (don't worry, I have yet to learn the art of scalping). Long since lost, at one time I owned a set of buckskins. You might say I had the infamous "Davy Crockett bug". I even wanted at one point to be a mountain man upon reaching adulthood (you know, with the current political climate, that might not be a bad idea...). For no particular reason, I want to talk about frontiers and how they affect societies and individuals.
If you're a Star Trek fan, you likely know by heart the words of Captain Kirk's famous opening monologue, "Space, the final frontier". The title "frontier" can bring to mind varied images. The iconic American cowboy riding off into the sunset. Astronauts venturing into new worlds beyond our own sphere. The drive to "boldly go" is deeply embedded in the heart of man.
This drive is, I believe, quite biblical. In his covenant with man, God commands Adam and his descendants to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion" over all creation (Gen. 1:28 ESV). When post-flood humanity refuses to "boldly go" God confuses their language and sends them out. God has given man creation, and where creation (including the realm of outer space) is unconquered, it is a frontier.
Frontiers are important for societies. In fact, I would argue they are inescapable. Where no true physical frontier exists, people will generally create a substitute. Frontiers give us a sense of purpose, a center of focus in order to help us organize our actions and decisions. Without a frontier, a society drifts. In fact, I believe societies need frontiers and will inevitable create frontiers where no actual frontier exists. Take the so-called "social justice warriors". This drive to have everyone on board with their nonsensical beliefs about genders and sex serves as a frontier. For the right, the drive to "make America great again" is a frontier as well.
But the frontier exits in realms beyond the cultural and geographical. Life itself is an adventure into new and (to us) unexplored horizons. Sometimes the "melting point between savagery and civilization" manifests not in the wild woodlands or howling deserts, but in our own hearts. Recently, I read again the classic tale, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. While I reject the concept of man as duality, or as composed of a wholly evil self and good self (man's one nature is simply corrupted by sin; incidentally, I believe that is the actual moral of the story), Stevenson captures in dramatic form the grueling struggle between the savage and the civilized within the soul of one man. As a son of Adam, I engage in the same war from day to day, seeking with the help of my king to subdue the old man, the frontier of my own heart.
Frontiers shape us, they reforge us and they lay a goal before us. It is my prayer that every frontier I venture into will serve to refine me, and to draw my gaze and focus ever more to the God who guides my feet through the wilderness.
