The Folly of Modern Life

 

The Folly of Modern Life

Reader’s Digest April/May 2026 p 21

“Don’t Trim the Azalea”

 
I found this quote in an article that struck a chord with me. Often on our mountain property, I have commented that our purchased land doesn’t belong to me, but to the animals that call it ‘home’ every day. I’m just the traveler moving through, as this land has been there for eons.
 
“It’s a sad folly of modern life that we think we’re somehow separated from the natural fabric in which we live. It’s a perspective built on a calculus of artifice – brick by brick by technological advance, we’ve convinced ourselves that we live apart from the bird and the turtle and the fox. But it’s a perspective that diminishes the lives of both humans and wild creatures. In a world older and more complete than ours, animals move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”   ~ Henry Beston The Outermost House.
 
The article goes on to say that in a lot of ways, how we live our lives is a matter of choosing how we wish to impact those “other nations.” A bird flushing from a side-yard Azalea is proof that those other nations aren’t “out there” in some abstract fashion: they live among us and with us and alongside us. Whether it’s a drive to the grocery store or an approach to lawn care, the act of everyday living has real-world impact on our furred, feathered, scaled and exoskeletoned fellow travelers. We either choose to ignore our impact on those other nations, or we choose to be as neighborly as possible.
 
There is an obligation that comes with living on the only planet we have. My little plot of land with huge pine trees and/or my neatly urban trimmed shrubs are not mine alone, nor is anywhere that I’ll ever plant a footprint in this life. The other nations are everywhere…and more reliant on harmony and benevolence than ever before.

Unlock Someone Else's Cage

 Unlock Someone Else’s Cage    

That’s my title for an article I found on FB

ALICE WALTON

Alice Walton: Billionaire Bridging Art & Community | Biography | Net Worth | Philanthrophy |

                She inherited a Walmart fortune that could buy a small country. What she did next shocked the art world—and changed thousands of lives. When Alice Walton inherited her share of the Walmart empire in 1992, she became one of the wealthiest women alive. Her stake in her father's retail kingdom would eventually grow to rival the economies of entire nations. Most people who inherit that kind of money spend their lives protecting it, multiplying it, treating wealth like a competitive sport with an ever-rising scoreboard.

                Alice saw something different in those numbers. She saw possibility.

Her father, Sam Walton, was the man who turned a single store in Arkansas into a global phenomenon. He was famously frugal - driving an old pickup truck even as his company became the largest retailer on Earth. When he died, he left his children more than money. He left them a choice about what to do with impossible wealth.

                While her brothers stepped into corporate leadership roles, managing the business that bears their family name, Alice walked a different path. Born in 1949, she grew up watching her father's relentless expansion, but retail never captured her imagination. While others counted profits, Alice was drawn to paintings.

                The question that defined her life became: What do you do when you have more money than a thousand lifetimes could spend? For most billionaires, the answer involves private collections, exclusive clubs, and the quiet accumulation of more wealth simply because the numbers can always go higher. Alice's answer was radical: she would give art away.

                In 2011, she opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas—a town of 50,000 people nestled in the Ozarks. She spent over a billion dollars acquiring masterpieces by Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and Jackson Pollock. The art world elite laughed. Why would anyone bring priceless American art to rural Arkansas?

Then she made it free. Forever.

                Alice's vision was beautifully simple: a child growing up in a trailer park deserves the same access to culture as a Manhattan socialite. Art shouldn't require a trust fund or a coastal zip code. It should belong to everyone.

Since opening, over six million people have walked those halls—school groups, farm families, travelers who suddenly had a reason to stop in Arkansas. By eliminating admission fees, she eliminated the invisible wall that separates culture from the people it's meant to inspire.

                But Alice didn't stop at art. She turned her attention to something even more urgent: healthcare. Rural America is hemorrhaging doctors. Communities across the heartland watch their hospitals close, their clinics disappear, their neighbors drive hours for basic care. Alice saw this crisis and decided to build a solution from the ground up. The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine opened its doors to students in 2024, focused on whole-health medicine and committed to training doctors who will serve underserved communities. She created substantial scholarships to ensure students graduate without crushing debt—removing the financial pressure that drives new doctors toward wealthy suburbs instead of rural towns.

                Alice Walton's story isn't about building wealth from nothing. It's about something equally rare: deciding what existing wealth should build.

The debates around wealth inequality and labor practices remain complex and valid. But Alice's choices offer a glimpse of what intentionality looks like at the highest levels of wealth. She inherited an empire but chose to create institutions that outlast quarterly earnings reports.

                She brought world-class art to forgotten towns. She's training doctors for communities the healthcare system abandoned. She didn't build the fortune, but she's deciding what it leaves behind.

                In a world where most billionaires treat wealth like a high score in an endless game, Alice broke the cycle. She realized that money can be either a cage of endless accumulation or the key that unlocks someone else's cage.

Most people spend their entire lives chasing more - more money, more status, more security - trapped in a hunger that grows with every zero added to the balance. Alice proved that the escape isn't found in having more. It's found in deciding that something else matters more.

She understood that the true measure of a fortune isn't its size. It's what it builds after the numbers stop mattering.

Charles Hulsey 1695 Sources

DILIGENT RESEARCHERS OF THE HULSEY FAMILY

Charles Hulsey (ca 1690) Notes. Pat Keene File.

 ...from Burl Hulsey - Jun 1995

 This information was given to me in Jun 1995 and is an addendum to The Hullsey Family that Burl wrote in 1985. According to Lou Pero, a good genealogist and publisher of the Hulsey Researcher, this Charles was born sometime before 1695, died between 1725 and 1729. His wife's name was Susanna. In 1722, this Charles was granted "85 acres of New Land in New Kent Co., VA on the E side of a mill pond lately belonging to Mrs. Alice Field, adj. Moses Wyatt, and Winslo's line, 18 Feb 1722, p177." (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Patent Book 11). Another researcher, Joe Green writes, "By 1729, this land was apparently in Goochland Co., VA, for we then find Susannah Hulsey, widow of Charles, living among the same neighbors.

 PURCHASE OF LAND -- FIRST PART p. 177

PUIRCHASE OF LAND -- LAST PART p. 178

RECORD FOUND IN LAND OFFICE GRANTS FROM THE LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA

HENRICO COUNTY DEEDS p. 52

Land Map of Charles Hulsey's Goochland Land

 INFORMATION BY WILLIAM HULSEY 1941

Charles Hulsey II Commentary and Conclusions

 Commentary and Conclusions:

Charles II was closely associated with the John Witt family until about 1778. He and the Witt family moved to the Halifax Co. VA – Surrey Co., NE area at the same time.

Charles II was closely associated with the John Matlock family from Goochland Co., VA to Greenville Co. SC. John Matlock was a brother-in-law, marrying Nancy Witt, the sister of Hanna Witt. Charles II's land in Greenville Co. SC was adjacent to John Matlock and Charles Estes, the father of Joshua Estes who married Elizabeth Hulsey.

He was functionally illiterate but took care to record his property transactions. He apparently was careful with his assets, having sufficient funds to purchase several properties over his lifetime.

There is some variance between the location of the births of his later children and the real estate records. The place of birth of his children has been changed to reflect Charles II's residence.

From 1766 until his death in 1792, his family was closely associated with the Cherokee, living close to the Indian boundary. Both sons and grandsons formed spouseless relationships with possibly Cherokee women. (During this period ministers would not marry a Cherokee to a white person.)

Charles II is not shown as serving in the Revolutionary War but Burke Co., NC was actively raided by the Cherokee during the period. (Two of his sons, James and Jesse, are listed as serving.) Burke Co., together with the adjacent Watauga communities of now TN, served as a refuge for families from SC and GA. The threat of British Major Ferguson to pacify Burke Co. and the Watauga communities led directly to the Kings Mountain Battle. Burke Co. Militia solders fought at both Kings Mountain and Cowpens, but there is no listing of Hulsey family members at either battle.

Charles Hulsey II is shown by the DAR as a Patriot Ancestor based on his supplying the Army and his sworn Oath of Allegiance.

Information from the research done by The Hulsey, Head and Huff Families of North Georgia.

The Charles Hulsey II Migrations

 The Charles Hulsey II Migration:

1722-1762 approx: Goochland Co. VA. Age: 0-38
1760 approx.-1766: Albemarle Co. VA. Age 38-43
1766-1778: Halifax Co. VA and Surrey Co., NC. Age: 43-56
1778-1788: Burke Co. NC. Age: 56-66
1789-1792: Greenville Co. SC. Age: 66-70

The family generally stayed together during the migration of Charles Hulsey II. When one family member moved, the siblings moved at the same time or shortly thereafter. 

The Migrations:

The Albemarle Co., VA Deed Records refer to his owning land adjacent to land purchased from William Moore by Nathan Barrett on Sept. 10, 1762. This property is now within Fluvanna Co., VA., adjacent to Goochland Co.

At some point between 1760 and 1766, he moved to the Halifax Co. (later Pittsylvania Co.) area of Virginia. (Actually across the NC line in Surry Co. The boundary was indefinite when he relocated.) The Witt family and the Matlock family moved to the same area during the same period. Note: The Witt family had been resident in Halifax Co. before moving to Goochland Co.

NC, Surry Co. Tax List 1774, John Deatherage's List: Charles Hulsey, SR., Charles Hulsey, Jr. Dan River adjacent James Hulsey...
.
Burke Co. NC Land Records, 1778, # 1049, p 344: Charles Haedeley (Hulsey), 200 ac., on John's River below James Jaddley's entry, both sides of River, down for complement. Entered Nov 17, 1778. warrant ordered. Transferred to Benjamin Akins. Note: This transaction may have been by Charles II or Charles III.

In 1779, a Charles Hulsey gave bond in Burke Co., NC in two court cases.

SC, Greenville Co., Dec. 17, 1791: Will of William Stone. Witness: Michael Henderson, Charles (his X mark) Hudlesly (Hulsey).

Greenville Co. Deed Records, Mar 9, 1790: Charles Hudlsley (Hulsey) bought from Thomas Lewis land in Greenville Co. SC. (Note: The acreage and price is not given in the Ancestery.com posting.)

The 1790 Census does not list Charles Hulsey II. James, Charles III, Adonjah and Adler Hulsey are listed in the 1790 Census in Greenville Co., SC under the name “Hulsea.”

SC, Greenville Co., Dec 10, 1792: Petition to State Legislature. Request to alter order regarding county courts. Signed by …, Charles Hulsey (III), Charles Hulsey, Sr. (II), Adjoniah Hulsey, Asa (Adler) Hulsey,.......

7 June, 1793, 8 June 1793, Greenville Co., SC Registry of Deeds, Book C, Page 268: From James (Junius) Hulsey, Charles Hulsey (III), Adonijah Hulsey, Jesse (Sr.) and Adler Hulsey, heirs of the late Charles Hulsey (II) (Note: The name used was “Hudlesley” in all instances.) to Michael Henderson for “50 pounds current, 100 acres more or less, formerly Granted to Charles Hulsey (II), now deceased, from Thomas Lewis on Mountain Creek of the Saluda River,” adjoining John Mattlock, Charles Estes and Michael Henderson. Witness: David Henderson, John Henderson. Signed: By above five Grantors using the name “Hudlesley” and signing “His X Mark.” Note: No mention was made of Parthenia Hulsey or Elizabeth Hulsey, the daughters of Charles Hulsey II.

Charles Hulsey II abt 1725-1792 History Sheet

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, January 28, 2009

 New Kent County Historical Marker

The Hulsey, Head and Huff Families of North Georgia.

Or, More Than You Ever Wanted To Know!

The Hulsey Family - Charles Hulsey II

Charles Hulsey II
Second Generation, Direct Ancestor; Born: About 1721 in Goochland, VA; Died: 1793 in Greenville Dist., SC
Married: 1752 in Goochland, VA
Hannah Witt
Born: 1730 in Halifax, Halifax Co., VA; Died: 1805 in Franklin Co., GA

Origin:
He was born about 1721-1722 to Charles Hulsey and Savannah.

His father died in 1722 or before, willing a 100 ac. tract to John Webb, apparently for the support of Charles II. His mother inherited a second tract of 85 acres, both tracts being in Goochland, VA.

Nearing her death, his mother repurchased the Charles Webb tract and deeded a total of 200 acres to Charles II “for love and affection” in 1729. “Susannah Hulsey of St James Parish, Goochland co, for love and affection, to her son Charles Hulsey, land on lower side of upper branch of Beaver Dam Creek, 200 acres with all houses, etc. Wit: John Webb, Joseph Ashlin.”

Early Life:

It is unknown where Charles II spent his minority. During his majority he was closely associated with the Webb, Witt, Matlock, Estes and Chandler families over his lifetime. His and John Webb's 200 acre property was cited as being excluded from a deed uttered on Apr. 20, 1836. (This and following real estate transactions posted on Ancestry by Stan Coker.) On May 18, 1743 he sold an undescribed property to Tucker Woodson.

His first child, James Junnius, was born of Hanna Witt in 1754. His marriage to Hannah Witt, daughter of John Witt, was recorded in the Douglas Register on Jan. 2, 1756 and his second child, Charles III, was born on July 2, 1756 according to the same Register.