In the world today, we are so connected to the technology around us, we almost miss out on real communication. It’s sometimes said that we lack real face-to-face communication skills because of it. Not just this, but our dependence on technology and other luxuries has and will lead to our ultimate demise.
Like my dad always says, “One day, all of these things will be gone and we will be left by ourselves without electricity. All we will be able to do is have face-to-face communication.”
Now, maybe my dad is overreacting. But what if that did happen? What would we do? Probably freak out and there would be mass hysteria.
Aside from our dependence on technology, our dependence on oil and our usage of the land has become a huge problem. As the years go on, not only are our natural resources diminishing, but we are trying to find a way to fix what we have already done. It’s impossible. What have we become?
Looking back, the Native Americans who lived on this land before us knew how to live without an extreme dependence on useless things. Not only that, but they knew how to interact with the land on a level that we cannot and do not understand.
We mold the world to fit our needs. The Natives molded themselves to fit the land. And here is where the problem lies.
When most people think of Indigenous people or Natives, they get the image of a savage. Our depiction of them is not what they are. Our history books are written to go along with our perspective and our obsession to be right. We were wrong.
How many of you actually know what Columbus did when he came here? Not many, I’m sure. When we were growing up, we learned that he was such an amazing man and a true American hero. Well, if you consider killing millions of Native Americans a hero, then sure.
Why don’t we learn about these things?
America’s obsession with being the best has driven us to not only deny the real truth of our horrific past but it’s also made us into one of the most ethnocentric countries in the entire world. Where other countries are learning from their mistakes of the past, we keep denying them.
America is in total denial of Native genocide. I’ve asked people about it and sometimes, they even deny it!
No one knows the true pain we have caused the Native people. Generation to generation, the pain is felt. We can’t just say, “Oh, it’s in the past. They’re over it,” because they’re not. It’s really not that simple. By saying something like this, we are furthering our denial.
Currently, there is a planned pipeline to run from North Dakota to Illinois. However, planning to do this was not easy. Although there were other routes clearly available, taking over Native land seemed like the best option. But, as the website clearly states, “Protecting landowner interests and the local environment is a top priority of the Dakota Access Pipeline project,” they are clearly going through land that is not theirs and they do not care about it.
As people protest, they get arrested. However, it is our right to peacefully protest and that is what they are doing. So, why get arrested? This is because they are getting in the way and our country doesn’t like it.
It’s ironic, really. We are scared of them getting in the way because we want to build something to benefit us but we had absolutely no problem getting in the way of their way of life and killing them.
This is America’s denial of Native genocide. If we keep teaching children lies and keep doing things to only benefit ourselves, we are digging a bigger hole for ourselves. If we don’t change our destructive ways now, we won’t be able to get out of the hole. We’re pretty close to it right now, anyways.
Think more about how you can interact with the Earth. Let’s learn to be more like them. Let’s try to see how we can do things for the Earth instead of how we can take things from it.
