Nothing To Be Alarmed About
The American Indian life was so abruptly different than that of the white man that pushed his way through this land so many moons ago. However, in "An Indian Story" the author, Roger Jack (I was disappointed to never learn of an Indian name for him) traded so easily between tradition and life as a modern American, pointing out incidences like going into a sweathouse and tossing in a coin. That can't be an Indian tradition. How about pow wows and carnivals? Another one that struck me was an old Indian woman who taught her native culture and language and loved Elvis, not that I blame her. All through the story I found things of this nature to be ironic, but not unnatural.
The family bonds and respect are something curious. There may have been some things there to be envious about. And some other things, maybe not.
My favorite part, "She always said good Indians remember two things: their humor and their history. These are the elements that dictate our culture and our survival in this crazy world. If these are somehow distroyed or forgotten, we would be doomed to extinction. Our power gone." How true for all of us, if we don't leave a piece of ourselves in the past when we have passed, we are truly extinct. Hopefully the piece we leave will be from our better part.
No comments:
Post a Comment