Month: January 2023

Last time we raised the issue of culture changes so here comes a few more thoughts on this topic.

On leadership we all realize there had to be those that rose to that position. The question of “how?”   No ndn pun intended.

There must have been an election of some sort. Maybe like television used to show about a knife fight or a wrasslin match of some sort? Were there contests to show who was the more intelligent? Something like Jeopardy or Name that Tune? Maybe races to see who was fleet of foot. This would be before the horse though. No Ford Mustangs or Pintos in this race.

What did each person running for a position promise to do for the people? More Buffalo or nut and berries? There, had to be speeches one would think. There were probably more words spoken then in the movies and not just some grunts!

 Of Ughh, or me see’em or even the most famous of all the “How!”

Today we see ads on the big screen that one-eyed monster in every household. Maybe the little tablet or on the cell phone. Billboard are still around but a lot are digital now too. Paper signs abound plastered to trees and fences. Never mind the mess they leave behind. No Greta Thunberg protesting about all this waste of paper made from trees?

All this to say about it in the following observations about Then and Now.

                        Then

Back in the day when people raised chickens all they had to worry about was keeping them out of the vegetable garden

                       Now

Today if people raise chickens, they must worry about them getting into the pot (marijuana) garden.

Politics then and now

                        Then

The slogan used to be “a chicken in every pot.”

                        Now

It is “some pot in every chicken.”

I wonder if this is where the “chicken pot pie comes from?”

Just a thought.      Wait that was already around. Who would have thunk it?

Then

Mom is frying the chicken.

Now

Mom is fried and so is the chicken

It’s a new day or is it?

There is a joke that has two Indian men talking about Changes.

It goes something like this

“When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water.
Women did all the work, Medicine man free. Indian man spent all day hunting and fishing; rest at night with family.
Then one leaned back and smiled and said “Only white man dumb, enough to think he could improve on a system like that.”

(Italics part my change)

It does make it seem like life back then was all hunky—dory! We have forgotten or rather choose to be blind to certain facts. The biggest thing is that life before the white man or other people came to this land is that life was actually very hard.

There were no Wal-marts for the necessities of daily living. For instance, food the men had to go hunt for it.

 One just didn’t walk outside and find Deer meat all weighed out and wrapped up for you. Nor the Buffalo meat either.

Nuts and berries came in their season not shipped in from warmer climes or from overseas.

For all these things you just didn’t run or drive to the store. Maybe other tribes made them so a barter or trade was made. Unlike today where these are now made in China or wherever labor is cheapest.

I am not sure about taxes seems like there would always be some form of paying for national defense and leadership. At least not like todays Infernal Reviled Service.

Men tend to think that they just laid around eating and joking around. The women also helped with the hunt. That was before the horse and Guns.

The reason being if the man of the mud-hut-teepee or lodge did not bring any meat home form the hunt. Yep!  Once again, a reminder meat didn’t come pre-packaged!

Nor were the clothes like moccasins-buffalo robes and buckskin shirts bought right off the rack. 

Like you can today. At the, Ye olde authentic NDN store!

The skins for these came from the animals the men had killed.

The thing is if you didn’t hunt for meat or gather nuts and berries you starved!

Today, its’ somewhat easy to go down to the tribal headquarters and get money and housing.

Tribal leaders didn’t send smoke signals or send runners to tell you that it was commodity time. Nor were there any cards with their pictures on them promising better tee-pees or mud-huts if they got elected.

That was a good thing. I believe that’s’ just my thought.

I do think there was some form of drink back then too. Maybe not as much or cheap or as potent as today. Also, I think there were some drugs too like peyote and others.

I wonder if mom or dad put up with a lazy-beer guzzling wonder brave back during those good old times?  How was addiction, if one saw it or realized that was a problem and that treatment was need? How was it treated back then? Was there some sort of rehab back then?

Just somethings to ponder as we look back to the good ol times. How far back do we really look though?

Have far have we moved from backward dependency to self-determination. Not as a tribe but as individuals?

Are we still deluded with our own wrong visions of life back then?

Culture changes and people need to change with it too.