Years ago (not telling how many), I was a big fan of books portraying the lives of our American Indian tribes. The authors had the skills to project me into the scenes where buffalo were hunted for survival. Life was hard work. Yet they lived by a strong code of ethics and had a deep faith.
This morning I read an article by Shannon Dininny of the Associated Press with the headline Oregon Tribes Pursue First Bison Hunt in Century. My heart cheered along with Jim Marsh and his relatives when Francis, his son, brought down a huge bull. I wish I could have been there. I'm sure I would have had tears running down my face instead of just blinking them back as I am now.
I do appreciate all the wonderful advances of technology, but fear for our future generations who have become so dependent on them. What would happen to our civilization if we lost electricity, telephones, electronic devices, automobiles...all things dependent on the technology so carefully developed over the years?
I just finished the Restoration series by Teri Blackstock, which addresses this very issue. I highly recommend these books to anyone who is as interested as me in "what if."
We live in a very spoiled and rich environment where we "take care of number one" first. I often think that I am only one day away from having to live in a cardboard box and forage through garbage cans for food. It could happen to me, it could happen to my next door neighbor. I like to think I'm a sharing kind of person, but would I be willing to do so if I, too, lost everything? And, worst of all, would I have the skills to survive?
Before we took over this rich land, our ancestors respected the earth, gave thanks for the food provided, and took care of their community. Have we really progressed and made things better with our technology, or have we created a land of robots existing in a cocoon where we hide in our homes dependent on technology we have no control over while we think we have it made? Are we really rich?
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