I heard how Kevin met his first best friend on my inaugural trip to the lake. Noodin Kasabien was proud of his heritage as a member of an Indigenous tribe but, like many others, was raised in poverty and held in disdain by those who immigrated from across the ocean. (1) Although he and Kevin were raised in very different circumstances, they had similar experiences growing up at the same time, children who were influenced toward conformity regardless of the cost to any one individual. Rather than embrace a daughter who chose to love differently than he considered normal, Noodin rejected her with anger. It was only when he came to live here in the habitats where the focus was placed on acceptance and integration that he began to recognize his own intolerance.

I have a hard time imagining the society Noodin and Kevin grew up in. It was a time when casual cruelty towards those who were unlike oneself was accepted and promoted. It took time, but eventually, these two men recognized the damage their upbringing continued to inflict. They took steps not only for themselves but also to help move all of us toward a society where our instincts match our stated values. We still have our faults; after all, it's only been a hundred and fifty years, not nearly long enough to begin to reverse the damage our ancestors inflicted on us for millennia. But it's a start.