Revisiting John Henry

I want to call out a thing thats different about this article. This article was totally accidental. In fact, its probably closer to a collection of notes than anything. Theres little to no flow or resolution. It struggles to centralize on a theme or dynamic... which is something I've pushed myself on. I've also been trying to make my articles USEFUL, which this article is the antithesis of. Even reading between the lines it might be hard for someone to take something from.

I had originally started researching John Henry in the context of the artificial intelligence sea change that is happening right now. In my head I was thinking "perhaps I use that to better understand what we are currently experiencing."

The result is loose, incomplete... but I think thats okay. I want to share it with you anyway. The John Henry story and folklore is wonderful. I enjoyed my little rabbit hole. I can also assume I will dive deeper on personal change something I have been thinking about more and more. Change is hard; its slow. People should do it more though. America, imperfect as she is... is also beautiful. So take these words and saunter.

My mother was born in Montreal, Quebec. My father was born in the coal mining region of Pennsylvania. When Mum was 3 my grandfather moved their family to the states, eventually settling in an old school New England village in the Fingerlakes region of Upstate New York. This village is also where I spent the first half of my childhood before Dad moved the family to Detroit for a promotion.

We spent a fair amount of time in Canada visiting relatives and traveling for family vacations. As a byproduct I generally consider myself Canadian-American though I have yet to live in Canada for any extended duration (I do carry citizenship and a passport though).

As a teenager, I formed a mild distaste for "Americana." In hindsight it was probably more a rejection of the obstensive nationalism that had formed following Sept 11th but there were plenty of other good reasons. Living in Detroit, frequenting distressed areas that were formerly beautiful neighborhoods (where the music venues were located) I couldn't understand how my country could be so blind to the many short comings that we had.

It took me a long time to realize that "struggle," a thing inherent in the natural world, is built into the American experience. We don't fight it, we embrace it. Its foundational, cultural, natural, and by design. When people say to children that "life isn't fair," I think that what they really mean is that "life is generally fair, but that also means it's quite hard." This often isn't the case for lots of other countries.

As I made my way through the world I gradually started to appreciate "Americana." The books, the music, the spirit. Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger have numerous direct quotes like this on the topic:

"In its brief 232 years of existence... there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country's economic progress has been breathtaking. Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America."

I think they're right and for me in my early 20s and beyond its been quite a rediscovery.

One of the interesting things about American Culture is that due to our country's age (a mere 250 years old), much of our folklore and heros are actually based in reality.

The bluesman Robert Johnson is a concrete example. A traveling blues man, in and out of small venues and corner performances, he recorded 29 songs over the span of 7 months which was his entire career (I've listened to many). Those recordings would turn out to be (debatably) the most influential blues recordings in history. At the age of 27 he died. No one knows definatively why or how, which likely adds to the legend. As does his early life which was also mysterious and uncertain. To this effect there are many stories about how he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to be able to make music the way that he did.

Another more classic example: A gentleman by the name of John Chapman, better known as Johnny appleseed. Johnny Appleseed is known in folklore as a peasant nomad who wandered around the american frontier spreading apple seeds and having adventures. There is a certain amount of truth to the story, but according to the actual history his business was apple trees which he built nurseries for, and he wasn't a pauper... he just dressed that way as an intentional choice.

But there are many such stories and individuals in our history. The founding fathers, artists, musicians, war heroes are many of the characters that make up a small part of the American Experience. Of these stories and folklore I was suprised to learn that one such actual individual was John Henry.

The Story of John Henry is a story about a railroad worker who competed against a new machine for driving railroad spikes (or steel driving depending on the story). Ultimately he won the battle, beating the machine, but lost the war, dying immediately after he had beaten the machine.

It turns out that John Henry was indeed a real person, and there is a fair amount of documentation to point to the fact that the contest really did happen. To me this is fascinating. The evidence about some of the other aspects to the story such as he died immediately after winning the battle seem to be more story telling than true... from what I understand he likely did die, but from a much less glamorous explanation - Silicosis from inhaling stone dust for years. Of course given the time period and the sources its entirely possible its all fabricated.

To me this is still wildly interesting. When you read about ancient Rome or collapsed civilizations like the Mayans "commoners" are not included in the history. America, a country built by rejecting the monarchy and the aristocracy keeps true by having stories of REAL people... which is something to love.

The other obvious thing is how timeless the story is. The contest may be fictitious, but I'm inclined to believe it to be true... and if it is true its an amazingly concise and direct caputure of the "Man vs Machine" theme that has existed for centuries. The Story of John Henry is the clearest, tightest representation of the concept that I am aware of.