Zak--Oklahoma I

In a charming but telling story by Dr. Seuss, there are two Zaks each heading a different direction, one south and one north. Their trek takes them directly in each other’s path resulting in the need for one or both to step aside, thereby continuing their journey toward their unknown but certainly valuable destination. Perhaps they are returning to their loved ones, or toward a new career, or maybe to a restaurant for a bite to eat, or to an art museum, or to move mountains, build bridges, or merely to save the life of a pet. We do not know, nor do we ever find out for these two Zaks refuse to budge. In their stubbornness, the world grows around them and their personal goals are never attained. Why couldn't they just be friends?

In Oklahoma, the marvelous musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, one of the most entertaining moments occurs in a light-hearted production time when the people sing about the Farmer and the Cowman. The resentment toward each other is cleverly masked by funny words, earthy dance movements, big smiles, couples finding love, and a melody with robust rhythm, wide energetic range, and country style fiddling in the orchestration. But no matter how red those roses may seem, there are painful thorns beneath them, or more specifically, the farmer and cowman may be having a good time but it did not happen without difficult compromise from each group.

Time and love may be the answers to the plethora of problems facing people unable to agree. In the odd case of the missing colony of Roanoke, a colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, scholars suspect that over a three year period the colonists bred with the Indians in a beautiful acceptance of differences and ultimately a melding of cultures through propagation and interbreeding. They simply formed friendships and relationships to the point of unification. The missing colony was not missing at all but rather became a part of an existing culture which may have, and probably did, take on its own special ethos.

In some ways, this may appear to be an extreme solution to contentiousness, but imagine our friends the Zaks who may have brought their children with them on their journey. The children grow up, fall in love and the parents recognize their own foolishness and begin to work together. In our song about the farmer and the cowman, the final statement says "Territory folks should stick together, Territory folks should all be pals. Cowboys dance with farmer's daughters, Farmers dance with the ranchers' gals."

I am not necessarily advocating such a lumpen and prolonged solution to disagreement, for the result could be a kind of figurative epicene of characteristics without strength of identity, a loss of the core culture that propels a community toward progress. The greater method is, of course, to find a way to work together. It is not always easy and it requires a bending of the will and a flexibility that most of us find difficult, a sacrificing of self for the greater good, with a perception of loss that in reality is a victory. Had the South going Zak simply taken one step to his left and continued toward his goal, both Zaks would no longer be stuck in the same spot glaring at each other. Would he have lost the fight, given a part of himself that he could not regain, relinquished his personal confidence? Or would the gain have been an injection of compassion and selfless altruism?

At what point do we lose the battle to win the war? Can the farmer and the cowman coexist? Are the Zaks still in the same spot? The victors in the battle are the territory folks who saw both entities cooperate in progress and unified development. Maybe there is a lesson in this song for everyone.