Sixty descendents of the Hatfield and McCoy families, who waged Appalachia’s most famous feud, have signed a truce. At least a dozen people from both families were killed in over 100 years of fighting.
The whole thing started with an argument over a pig, and got worse during a battle over timber rights in the 1870s. The truce was the idea of Reo Hatfield of Waynesboro, VA. He says, “We’re not saying you don’t have to fight because sometimes you do have to fight. But you don’t have to fight forever.”
The truce reads: “We ask by God’s grace and love that we be forever remembered as those that bound together the hearts of two families to form a family of freedom in America.” Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton and West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise signed proclamations declaring June 14 as Hatfield and McCoy Reconciliation Day.
Could the Israelis and Palestinians be next? It would help us find peace if we could figure out what really happened.
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