Sara Hacken, Utah Teacher of the Year, was our guest speaker. Not of pilgrim lineage herself, Mrs. Hacken stated what a pleasure it was to be asked to speak to the Utah Mayflower Society. Her speech was titled, “Why the Pilgrim Story Still Matters.” Showing us a large depiction of the Mayflower passengers from Pilgrim Hall, she proceeded to show us samples of colors that were used to make Pilgrim clothing. Contrary to modern notions, Pilgrims did not wear black, a color that was expensive and denoted anything but fun, which Pilgrims enjoyed often in dance, music and games.
In the Pilgrim world view, everything had its place, and everyone knew his or her place. They took Sabbath Day observance seriously. They were not businessmen, tended to trust everyone, and were cheated numerous times in their transactions in the Old World.
Mrs. Hacken said that Pilgrims teach us five main lessons–personal and collective courage, rights of self and others, your choices matter, forgiveness and loyalty, and hard work and self-sufficiency. She concluded by stating that descendants of the Pilgrims (New Englanders) had the same attributes to buck their king in 1776 as the Pilgrims did to buck their king in 1620.
We wish to thank Mrs. Hacken for a very informative and interesting presentation.
In addition to the wonderful talk by Sara Hacken, we were also privileged to have Jak Lundquist, Project Manager of The Mayflower Exhibit, with us. He brought with him a scale model of the Mayflower. The Mayflower Exhibit is a project of the Society for the Preservation of america’s Founding Values. Thank you, Mr. Lundquist!