TCCMaven

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Birthright

It is one of the deepest sorrows of my heart that this birthright has been denied me: the knowledge of how to live in the world, perfected and tried and handed down through hundreds of generations of my ancestors.

When someone says "I am Sisetowa," or "I am Yequana," that has a profound meaning way beyond an ethnic designation. It defines everything from conflict resolution to choosing a mate to right livelihood, and more.

I have nothing like that. And I never will have. And my children probably won't either, even if I manage to cobble together a supportive clan or community.

I can never give them that deep knowledge.

It saddens me to know that I will never know what it means to be truly human---to have lived every moment of my life in the tribe of my ancestors, making my daily tools in the same way they did, caring for and living from the same land, knowing that living the same way they did makes me who I am---that to do otherwise would unsoul me.

I have no idea what it means to be a wild human--to live in the real world (wild nature) and consider it my home.

Because of that lack I would never presume to judge or criticize the behaviors and strategies of people who still have that connection. I would not dare.