I Want to Go Native!

I am sitting here alone and it is close to midnight. The ephiffanies are plentiful and there’s no one to engage in meaningful discussion. I best write this one down…and share it. There is a television program that I have been watching. “Meet the Natives” is about a village chief, medicine man, and three native men (one of whom speaks English and translates) from a remote island in the South Pacific . The chief says that the tribe didn’t act right and they fought often. But a great war began and a US soldier named John Navy came to the island and taught them how to get along. The Natives come to the United States to find out why this country has lost its peace. They come to the US to bring a message of peace from their island and they are searching for John Navy.

The Natives spend five days in Montana where they live with a family in the cattle business. They learn to be cowboys among other things. The Native spend five days in Manhattan, New York living with an artist. They learn the importance of having money but can’t help but ask about what happens to those that don’t. Peoria, Illinois is their next location where they learn about foods that come from cans or the freezer. The Natives express concern about eating food not killed immediately before cooking or grown and harvested in harmony with the earth. They worry that they will be poisoned by a turkey cooked in a plastic bag. But they trust the cook.

They cross back across the nation to Orange County, California and learn about botox parties and how to look younger. The Natives discuss amongst each other how these people are trying to look younger. That’s on the outside. They wonder what it does to the beauty on the inside of people. The Chief wonders why these people don’t trust that their skin and bodies know what they are doing. If is is 3:00 no one can make it 9:00.” (Perhaps their version of ‘you can’t turn back the hands of time??) Next they travel to a military base to live with a sergeant and his family on base. The Natives will learn about the instruments of war. I can’t until that episode airs! Rumor has it that they will get to meet with our President.

I like the chief. He is eloquent in his words, wiser than our own leaders, and has a sense of fun. He goes with one of the daughters to a manicurist for a pedicure. Now this is a man who has grown up barefoot in the jungle for the past 65 years or more. The manicurist definitely earned her tip! The chief walks out to meet one of his tribesmen who has just had a facial and the others. They all look down at the chief’s feet and erupt in hysterics when they see his bright red toenails. “They ask me what color so I picked one!” he exclaims during his own breatless laughter.

This program meets all my needs…to be entertained and laugh while learning about another culture; to see the world through eyes so different from mine; to ponder living life as a tribal communitywho share everything with each other. When nature is good to them, they all prosper together. There is no “have and have nots.” These five men help me to understand many things about my own county’s culture as well as see the stark differences.

They seem to have a special happiness that I think we all long for…that primal happiness the comes from living simply; understanding and living in harmony with nature and her many cycles; knowing the importance of living with all creatures as connected beings. Toddlers learn at a very early age how to use a knife to cut food for the others.

Life is about survival and getting back to the basics on their island. People may wonder why the tribe and these men choose to live so simply when much of the world has so many modern conveniences. I have to wonder why the Natives, so eloquent in their words, would want to live like us. We don’t know the last names of our neightbors and may not even know their first names. There is very little communication with those that are physically located right next to you. We don’t know what is in our food or where it comes from. I have to wonder if perhaps the Natives are happier because they have so much less to worry about. They have time to sit in nature and reflect…to give great thought to those things around them. They appreciate what they have and if they eat that day, it is a good day.

I want to go native! I want to know what it feels to live in a society without banks that raise credit card interest to 30 percent just because there might be an interest limitation law someday. I want to live in a place where those in charge are responsible for The People and make decisions for the good of The People. I want to live with people who live each moment in the present and appreciate the importance of living each moment to its fullest. If I could have a toilet, a shower and mosquito netting, I would go native! And it does take a village to raise children. Perhaps I will not criticize the illegal immigrant mother I see who doesn’t watch her children. Perhaps she is from a tribe where there is always someone nearby to watch her children and she has not yet come to understand that only a small percentage of our tribe does that. This program has made me see how stupid we are as a society; how screwed up our priorities are; and how far we have drifted away from our true selves in so many ways. And yet, I understand how far we’ve come.