the difference between us and them
by Eli
literally, the same kinds of thoughts go through my mind pretty much every single day. thoughts of the way we live our lives, the living and non-living. i’d say that most of these thoughts, however, focus on my own species, and how turned around we must be to not think twice about poison the very water we drink from.
It’s just a natural cycle of evolution.
Things are so much better now than than they used to be.
But what about all the amazing things we’ve created?
and i was trying to find that one thing that separates the civilized from the uncivilized, and i think that i’ve stumbled upon it. of course, there are many other ways to illustrate what i’m trying to say, but this is the most succinct and lucid way that i’ve found so far.
the “occupied-native-indigenous” uncivilized peoples of the world live in an environment that is compeletely alive, deep in it’s core. Not only are the human animals alive, but so are the non-human animals, the environment around them, the clothes they wear, the shelters they build, the tools they use, and the friends they have (both human and non-human alike). they are all part of something larger than themselves, together, and it provides for them. they all follow the same basic rules and everything goes pretty damn smoothly.
the civilized, on the other hand, are almost always acting in direct opposition to the world of the living. we are constantly breaking the rules. as a result, we are constantly fighting nature, poisoning this and poisoning that, raping this and raping that, destroying this and destroying that. most of us live in concrete boxes our entire lives and still can’t figure out why so damn many of us live fucking empty, meaningless lives, completely dispossessed.
the uncivilized are surrounded by life; the civilized are surrounded by death.
right now i am understanding what daniel quinn was talking about more than ever, especially when he referred to the above mentioned groups as the leavers and the takers. i know that my thought tonight is not completely original or earth shattering, but it makes more sense to me now than it ever has before.
