This is one of the best Native American point-of-view I have read. The man in question, Seattle, is very logical and simplistic with his observations. He has accepted his fate, which so many people find so hard to do. He felt connected to the land, while we were inhabitants. His whole life was about this land and his people. A deep connection that no "foreigner" could replicate. The Europeans could never understand, not anymore.
However, this wasn't their fault. They had started to own land hundreds of years before. Land became a product to them. It was no longer something that held sentimental value, but something to be gained. Hence the reasons people started exploring out of Europe. (Well they wanted to find India, but I guess that's indirectly getting new land.) To the men asking the Native Americans to move to a reservation, it probably seemed like they were doing them a favor. That this was probably the best outcome, but losing that land was losing everything. There was nothing they could do to make up for it except leave them alone.
Seattle knew, however, that these men were not going to leave. The best option for them was the reservation. The saddest part of the story was that he had lost hope. In his faith and his people. He felt that his "god" so to speak was deserting him and only helping the other side. His ultimate point, which I have never heard, was that it was going to come back against the white man. That it would not always be good for them either and that it would all fall apart. While this isn't a necessarily positive way to look at things, it has to be true. Nothing is forever. Just existence.
"There is no death, only a change of worlds."
No comments:
Post a Comment