Illiniwek - "man"
I have been living in the conquered lands of native Indian tribes for four years -the marshland of the past forested with wiry trees that withstood rapid weather changes, the windy region where the tall brown grasses danced to the tune of atmospheric vagaries, the kingdom of abundance roamed by majestic bisons. The "Hileni" or Illiniwek (means "man"), kickapoo, kaskasia, peoria, cahokia and shawnee called these lands their only home - a land with no boundaries, a land that will provide all they ask and more.
In all of four years, I have conveniently chosen to remain oblivious to their plight, to the cruel way in which the conquerers from across the atlantic and beyond, mercilessly killed them all one by one- making false promises, plotting one tribes against another and using gunpowder to slowly eradicate them. With no retort for modern killing machines, they lived a life of fear and writhed under the agony of a future that will be taken away from them by none other than yet another human.
What can we do from the history but learn and try not to repeat the mistakes? But slow as we are in assimilating, we forget the past and plan a future by destroying the present. The genoicide in Africa goes but as a small news item that has been forgotten within a decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq can be justified with infinite arguments but what good are arguments against the lost life of an innocent child?
The root cause of all this is competition - competition between countries to either protect their own resources or conquer another countries resources. Perhaps, it is merely a scaled up version of the very same competition to obtain a share of the market or a good grade in class that is available in limited quantities, the motives are nothing more than the motive of a soccer player who pushes himself past the point of exhaustion for clinching a victory - His victory. So, is competition bad? I do not know. I am one of those who dislike to loose - it feels good to win, you see. The primal instinct to beat the odds and come out victorious. Is it possible to quench it? You tell me.
In all of four years, I have conveniently chosen to remain oblivious to their plight, to the cruel way in which the conquerers from across the atlantic and beyond, mercilessly killed them all one by one- making false promises, plotting one tribes against another and using gunpowder to slowly eradicate them. With no retort for modern killing machines, they lived a life of fear and writhed under the agony of a future that will be taken away from them by none other than yet another human.
What can we do from the history but learn and try not to repeat the mistakes? But slow as we are in assimilating, we forget the past and plan a future by destroying the present. The genoicide in Africa goes but as a small news item that has been forgotten within a decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq can be justified with infinite arguments but what good are arguments against the lost life of an innocent child?
The root cause of all this is competition - competition between countries to either protect their own resources or conquer another countries resources. Perhaps, it is merely a scaled up version of the very same competition to obtain a share of the market or a good grade in class that is available in limited quantities, the motives are nothing more than the motive of a soccer player who pushes himself past the point of exhaustion for clinching a victory - His victory. So, is competition bad? I do not know. I am one of those who dislike to loose - it feels good to win, you see. The primal instinct to beat the odds and come out victorious. Is it possible to quench it? You tell me.
posted by littlecow at
9:14 PM
1 Comments:
but whether it is a person with a good character or not, losing will hurt. but i suppose you can argue against it by saying a loser with a good character would take the loss in his stride...
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