There is a story of a frontier woman, over one hundred years ago who would be a prime candidate for PROZAC today.

She and her young husband have their first crop destroyed by hail and have no money to replant. The entire family contracts diphtheria and the husband is crippled as a result of it. Their young son dies, their farm house is burned to the ground, they have no money, no home and, what would appear to many… no future.

The difference between today and yesterday is that these circumstances were just a sampling of daily problems facing everyone back then. But they didn’t give up, they dug in. There were no self-help books, no psychiatrists, no group therapy, no government programs.  Their faith, perseverance and determination kept them going. And millions like them, became the heart and soul of who we are as a nation today.

She and her little family decided to move to Missouri to start a new life. She began writing and has left her legacy on the world with her classic series, The Little House on the Prairie.

She, of course, is Laura Ingalls Wilder, a paradigm of the overcoming spirit. This is Nina May celebrating the pioneer spirit in all Americans.