Artifact #4 Reflection

An interesting story connects two of my ancestors from totally different lines.  It also connects well to The Distance Between Us.

My great-great-great-grandfather, Paulinus Allred was settled in Lehi, Utah.  When word came about the starving handcart companies and wagon trains in Wyoming, Paulinus's church leader asked him to take his horse and cart filled with supplies and help the struggling pioneers. Although Paulinus and his wife had very little themselves, he loaded up his wagon and went to the rescue. Fighting deep drifts of snow, he and his team managed to meet the wagon team at Fort Bridger and helped guide them into Utah. Paulinus (my grandmothers ancestor) ended up helping William Stewart (my grandfathers ancestor).

The story that I just told relates to Reyna because Paulinus helped guide the pioneers just as the coyote and smuggler ended up guiding Reyna and family. While Reyna was crossing the border with her siblings and father, they had help from a coyote: a person who is paid to aid illegals across the border. On a side-note, there is a contrast between Paulinus and the coyote.  The Coyote did it for money, gaining something, while Paulinus used his own supplies to help, reducing his own objects.  Reyna and her family also had to pay a separate smuggler to get them from the border to Los Angeles.

Over the years, many people have aided struggling people.  There have always been people who are the reason others make it to a certain place.  Once sailors and pioneers, coyotes and smugglers, and now even Taxi companies. They all help people get from one place to another.