I tend to slip into character (aka “roleplay”) in stream chat. I try not to. But it’s a bad habit of sorts. My squirrel fursona has been a part of me for a very long time. About a week ago, I let myself slip in a stream chat and some of the attendees went nuts in a negative sense. You’d think I had opened a trench coat in a public park and exposed myself to them. I should have known better, ‘cause one of them it didn’t matter what I said or did, it ticked them off. Oh well.

Anyway, maybe they knew about Maine’s troubled history and as such were simply biased against this graymuzzled (nearly silver) Mainah. So, to set the record straight, though I can’t change history, I can apologize for it.

I know at least one person on my f-list is full blooded native. While there is some Wabanaki in my heritage, there isn’t enough to claim it. I digress. For anyone out there with Native stock, I apologize for the take-over of your lands. If it weren’t for Maine, it probably still would have happened, but it would have been different and/or possibly taken a lot longer.

Huh? You might ask. Well, back when the Pilgrams landed in what is now Massachusetts, they hadn’t gotten a free-ride across the Atlantic. They owed money to a bunch of investors. Thanks to a trading post they set-up at what was then called Cushnoc by the Abnaki, located about a mile from where I currently live, the Pilgrams were not only able to pay off their debts in short order, they turned a tidy profit. Trade goods for beaver pelts. And beaver was in high demand back in Great Britain. That attracted other settlers and an expedition 1,000 strong settled north of the Pilgrams around 1630 in what is now Boston. And they kept coming. Human greed as usual. So, I’m sorry.

In the 1850’s as the Whig Party floundered and died, several prominent business men in the mid-west formed a new party. Among them were members of the Washburn family from Maine who moved to the old Northewest territories to make their fortunate. You may not have heard of them, but you may be familiar with the companies they founded: Gold Medal Flour/General Mills, and Pillsbury. One of the Washburn brothers convinced a lawyer from Illinois to run on their new party’s ticket. He’d win a plurality in a 4 way race and lead his nation through a civil war. Yes, I’m talking about the Republican Party. Half the nation can’t stand them. If you’re in that half, please accept my apologies for Maine’s roll in their creation.

In the late 1800’s, missionaries travelled to Hawaii to convert the “savages”. Many of those missionaries gave up preaching and took-up sugar cane. Several of those missionaries came from Central Maine. Some of their cousins you know the name of: Dole. Human greed once again showed its ugly face. They helped overthrow the rightful monarchy of that nation and encouraged the USA to annex the islands. So, to the people of Hawaii, I’m sorry.

But there is a much graver matter to discuss. This is the albatross around Maine’s neck. Maine inventor, Hiram Maxim, made his first fortune with a small invention many of you have seen in real life or cartoons, the common mouse trap. He fought Edison in court over the patent for the light bulb. However, he would again gain fame for a different deadly invention. One that he felt was under-appreciated stateside, so he immigrated to Great Britain where he would eventually be knighted for his invention. And what was it? He invented the first fully automatic machine gun. And millions have paid the price ever since.