by David House
Cognitive dissonance
anyone? We run PSA type commercials exhorting our children to "play an hour a
day" Then proceed to lock them in
institutions that teach them little more than the ability to recite "facts"
I say "facts" because
one of my grandchildren told me the other day Dolphins are about as intelligent
as a 15 yr, old child", he got that in school".and I know from personal research
the "jury" is still way out on really understanding the nature of their intelligence
I have had a lot of
real blessings in this life, and one of the most educational and rewarding
was the pack of Wolf-hybrids i raised for many years on my land in Ne. From the incredible gift of a beautiful Wolf
pup out in N. California...to her ten cubs, and then the packs that came from
them and from the other beautiful gift
pup, Sasha, from my daughter in 2000 i
was given the most wonderful set of lessons in how to live, love and learn!.
Wolves are not only pack animals. They are incredibly family
oriented. I was blessed with the time and proximity to watch each new
litter born and grow and finally take their place as full pack members.
I lost many to
murderous ranchers out in that country. You see if a wolf decides he
wants out of a pen or run...it will happen with the same certainty of the sun
rising. I do not know how many early mornings some early riser staying on
my land would wake me with the cry...the wolves are out!...nothing could stop
them!...from buried tires all around the pens to picketed rows of Re-bar driven
deep into the earth and laced with heavy wire...to boulders chunked down in the
weak places...once the urge to run was strong enough, out they went, and out we went frantically rounding them up
before some paranoid rancher shot them. You see hunting large game, like cattle is not instinctive...it is a
learned skill, taught by pack elders...like discrimination is in our human
children. You couldn't explain that to the ranchers though, they shoot
first and never look back!
One of
the greatest joys was watching the puppies play. Almost every type of
play they engaged in ended up being a method to acquire a skill they would need
in thier life when they were grown. They attended no class room, were never, ever pushed into adulthood before
that critical play time had given them, naturally, the very life skills
they would need to survive!
In a lot of
ways watching them took me back to my own childhood and the hours of play in
the hot, dusty wood near our house. The BB gun wars...sans any protective
gear...that we engaged in constantly that ended up making me a crack shot when
i entered my life, my dream, the Army. The building of "forts" that
taught me one had to be careful when building because shoddy procedures meant
the fort collapsed or the floor of the tree house gave away and we risked
falling to the ground.
On fine summer days i
would grab a small pan from the kitchen, a can of good old Campbells Tomato
soup, some fire making implements, a cup, a loaf of bread and my current
must read book. Off to my special place,
in a small hollow, where a tiny spring
bubbled fresh cold water...there i would cook, eat and lounge in the deep sweet
grass...reading..listening to the Crows who would tell me when my friends or
strangers entered the wood..the days were long, lazy and fulfilling...the
skills i learned playing there stayed with me, made me a decent soldier with
good skills at camouflage, tracking and self defense. The first time i
skipped school, it wasn't to be free of the place...i was deeply involved
in reading a book and didn't want to be forced to read something else...i got caught".
but, i finished the book, which was far more important to me than that
days school work would have been.
With my best friend
we, spent entire summers reading, building, and discussing the universe, how it worked, and why things were the way they were.
NONE OF THIS was ever really part of what we learned in school, but it
effected us more deeply than anything we were taught there. I remember
learning the concept of "as above, so below" and the concept that if
the universe was infinitely large, it had to be infinitely small as well...from
discussing the images on an Evaporated Milk" tin,,,that had a picture of
the can on the label, which had a picture of the can on its label and so
on...none of these concepts were really discussed in school at least at our
grade level...but these ideas came up in the long lazy times we had to
just...BE..and think and dream. Can you see where i'm heading with this
thing?
Now children are
drilled in reading, spelling, math and the like BEFORE they even hit
Kindergarten! before they have a grasp on anything, they are being molded, shaped,
prepared for a life of running here and there...the college race, prep, prep,
prep...test, test, test. Is it any wonder that with whatever free time they
might wrest from the race they will be in until they are old enough to retire
but too old to enjoy same, they spend in the mindless meditation of a video
game.... and to top it off because of the greed and selfishness of the men in
control, even that date of restricted freedom, retirement.... is being pushed
later and later in life. Now they are discussing taking summer away from children"..
they already got recess, where i really learned group participation...sharing
and good manners. I ask you truly...has any of this helped? Is this country still a mess educationally?
Will stealing the last vestiges of childhood help? Or is it really
babysitting you need? babysitting so that both parents can slave away,
leaving their children in the care of others that cost almost as much, as the time wrested away from the kids, to
earn the money to pay the child care, while you work non stop til 70 or beyond?...it
this the world you want to make????...where even the family is shredded to the
point of semi non existence? Who benefits...you?...your children?...your
family? Or is someone else benefiting from what you have given up?
They say in the
purest form of slavery the slaves believe they are free.....is freedom really
being able to chose any car in the aisle?
Or choosing to use the free time, you used to have, to spend with
your children? In a movie i really suggest everyone see, if for no other
reason to understand what our native brothers have to live like on the Rez., "Thunderheart," John Trudell,
[poet, musician, actor and activist, and my personal hero, role model]
who plays the Jimmy character, says something profound..."We
[the Native people]... know the difference between the illusion of
freedom and the reality of freedom!" Do you?
Look to your
children...what are you doing to them? What are you doing for them?
Is money and a good college that they will pay for receiving most of
their lives, worth the loss of freedom, childhood, and family?... could
you get by few fewer possessions and more time with family. Who controls
the economy that forces you to skimp on family life just to survive?
Wolves learn by playing"..i learned the most important lessons of my life
playing...is sacrificing the emotional stability of your children worth the
loss of play, of life, of deep family love earned by time spent together.
Is burying our children in one institution after another really going to
make life better?...who told you that?...and what was their agenda?
Blu...my Alpha wolf
who died in 2009
