Hello Erika, Thank you for that careful read and thoughtful comment.
However, I wish you had mentioned besides the negative consequences of these conquest and loss facts as well as those shown on the other side.
What is the good side? I can't think of it. Progress? What is that except one culture gaining dominance over another, one idea of value winning over another. These people were virtually annihilated. I can't find the good in that. The environment was pillaged and altered for the worse. Species disappeared. Landscape degraded. Where is the good? Only that the indigenous people were somehow able to reclaim what had been taken from them. But they can't reclaim lives lost, can they? No, I don't see good here.
The issue of contact is one that has interested me for some time. There's a site (there are actually many sites) that discusses the pros and cons of contact:
It's a complicated issue. But what is not complicated in life :)
Yes, we are all hybrids. We all come from somewhere and have in a sense been invaders. When you think about it, human progress is predicated on the exploitation of resources...land, animals, air. Now that 'progress' has brought us to where we are, many people are considering how we might have progress without doing so much harm. How we might return as much to nature and others as we take. I know you live like that. Thinking here of your compost on the balcony :) And your bicycle..and other aspects of your thoughtful approach to life.
Without progress we wouldn't have vaccines, or electricity. I love those. But perhaps we can go forward without predatory progress.
Yes, we are invader and invaded, all at the same time. Nothing in life is simple, is it?
Have a great weekend, Erika.
Warm regards,
AG
Of course not, me neither .... My way of thinking is rather to look for examples that emphasize the good in times of need and expulsion. You know, I have my own family history that is shaped by it. Since things cannot be undone and have already happened, and I am probably particularly receptive to such reflections, I feel the need to read encouraging and positive additions to your and similar publications. Every story, no matter how devastating it may be, at some point allows for another story that may have happened precisely because the events were dramatic. I am interested in further narratives, such as that of the nurse who witnessed the lack of help from the doctor. What happened to her, how did her further life go? Are there any records, is there anything to tell that gives back courage and hope? Had she not witnessed such inhuman events, would she perhaps have led a life of indifference? And so on.
I am probably tired of reading the many cruel examples of human history and stressing the horrors that resulted. I'm sorry if I left that out too much on your article. I tend to.
Right, contact always takes place at the border. These boundaries between all living things always have their versatile effects, some dramatic, others useful, and yet others necessary. Life cannot be stopped nor controlled and when and by what one dominates the other, always a story with many facets, influencing factors and surprises.
The friction between two people takes place at their respective borders, too, which we once made a topic of in my training and thereby witnessed and exchanged our physical-psychical experiences. For this purpose we placed ourselves directly in front of each other and looked intensively and wordlessly into the eyes of the other. This was a rather unpleasant as well as surprising experience, because one rarely does such a thing.
On the peoples still untouched by civilization: there is an episode of spaceship Voyager, which I find quite apt. The only way to avoid this contact forever would be an impenetrable barrier of a physical nature. Such an energy field is mere fantasy, of course, and I'm glad there's no such thing.
History likes to summarize whole peoples and tell a collective event. But if you are a contemporary witness and involved, you know that these are individual events and that nothing in the world runs for twenty-four hours on seven days neither cruelly nor beautifully.
Yes, that is not the question? How we keep what we have achieved in good or development without killing or destroying. It is a question that every individual is challenged to answer, and it is by no means a question that one never tires of asking.
How I see it, the human species won't be able to be totally without predatory aspects. ... I remember my mom who said: "My father was a wise man. He knew how to avoid conflicts and when he should talk and better be quiet." But this quietness of my grandfather didn't make him bitter. He was a cheerful old man. Made the best out of life as it seemed to me.
Yes, I see your point. I think that would make an excellent blog. I read many witness statements that described kindness. From the nurse, to some of the Japanese who guarded prisoners in Japan. There were good stories. These of course were the exception, but they matter and are part of the picture. There were people in towns that neighbored the internment camps. Some of these people helped the internees.
I look at my own family's history, settling in the Americas hundreds of years ago. People lived here then, and my ancestors drove them out. That's a fact. So we all have blood on our hands, metaphorically speaking.
I agree that we can't go around with a sense of hurt and allow that to color everything we see. But, unfortunately, the history of the world is told by the conquerors. And that story has rarely in the past allowed truth to come out. So I guess I'm doing my part to balance the record.
I appreciate your reminder that much good exists among the bad. We should not lose sight of the good.
I end here with positive thoughts...about my friends on Steemit and the good influence they hope to have here.
Thanks again, Erika, for reading, for your insight, and for your comments.
With regard,
Your friend, AG
Hey, friend.... I love your flower !!!!!
Be happy, be peaceful.
Love, AG