« every time | Main | wardriving »

i'm not a violent man

I'm really not a violent man, I swear. I don't condone violence against women. In fact, I was always taught NOT to hit a girl unless she's really kicking my ass.

But, there are times when a good smack across the face ala Cher -- "Snap out of it!" -- could go a long way.

For instance, again with the 18 year old freshman girl in my Ethnic Arts class. Let me set the scene for you. It's another Tuesday night, and we're watching a fairly boring early-80s documentary on Native American life. Not the Americanized commercialized kind, but the live-off-of and respect the land kind.

If you think you can picture it in your mind, let me help. Culture that farms, traps, hunts, fishes, snares, sews, furs, tans (leather), beads, weaves, taps trees for sap, cuts timber for firewood and building materials, cooks, etc. That's the kind of place I'm talking about. Self sufficiency, for the most part.

Those of you who know me, know I grew up in that kind of environment. I know I was rare, even then, but I do know that there were quite a few other farmers in the area that believed the same way, and that my grandparents on both sides believed the same way. I've talked about it before, how my maternal grandparents moved into the highlands upon retirement to live off the land and the animals they raised.

So, I was offended when she said "Nobody could possibly live like that today. Not when we have Target."

SMACK!

I was so fucking offended. And then when she said "Everyone hunts for food. Nobody hunts for sport."

What world do you come from anyway? Certainly not mine.

I came from a town where the first Monday of deer hunting week, every male took off from school, and we had an excused absence. Several other people had the same experience. And almost none of the folks ever used the deer for anything but a trophy.

My mom made all of our family's clothes. Jeans, shirts, sweaters, dresses. All of our linens. She took care of the cattle. She took care of the house. She managed the finances. She made all the quilts. She baked. She cooked. She canned. She gardened. She did everything. My dad baled hay, took care of the fences and the barns and the major house renovation. My mom did all the smaller woodwork. The wood came from trees on our property. The firewood, too, which we heated with.

For most of my younger years, this is how it worked. We were dirt poor, so we lived off the land. Consumerism was not a part of my life.

It does happen. Ideally, it would happen more.

Unfortunately, most of the young people have no idea about any of this "live off the land" type stuff. After a disaster, people like me will be the only people left who have any clue how to survive.

Unfortunately, people like her are going to be the people who are going to drag the rest of us down. They'll probably kill us for being different.

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)