Coping with the pressure of modern life sometimes is made easier by a look back to a time when the pace may have been slower in some ways, but the peril and uncertainty was, if anything, greater.
People who reenact major events or everyday life from long ago, often with extreme realism, give us a look back to "the good old days."
Now, one reenactment is in danger - from modern life.
For more than 20 years, area residents have enjoyed a peek into the past provided by the annual National Road Wagon Train in Belmont County. A two-day event, it features a group of local residents using wagons drawn by horses and mules to recreate longer journeys taken by our pioneer ancestors. Founded by the Belmont County Tourism Council, the event's route along U.S. 40 made it accessible to virtually anyone.
But the wagon train program last weekend may have been the last. Public highways, used by too many car and truck drivers who whiz along with little or no regard for slower-moving traffic, have made the event too dangerous, organizers explain.
What a shame.
Perhaps some sort of activity to continue a similar program safely can be devised. A shorter journey for the wagon train - or even a static display in campground format - still would be wonderful to experience.
Here's hoping that can be done. Allowing the frenzy of modern life to crowd out a reminder of a simpler time would take something important from our future.
