Thursday, September 15, 2011

Origin of Words

    Have you ever wondered how certain words were coined, how they came to be? maybe, what were the circumstances surrounding their first use? I never did either, until today.
     I was just sort of browsing around the internet, one of them days. I came across several articles defining the way of life as it pertained to the Native American for centuries. As I understand it, they lived a simple semi-nomadic life in harmony with nature and for the most part, each other.
     The women were industrious hard working souls, laboring from sun up till past sun set. They raised the children, skinned elk, bison, and bear. Cooked over open fires and clay ovens. Gathered nuts, berries and roots for their diet and as a supplement for their often meager winter rations. When the tribe would move for various reasons, the women would disassemble the home, and reassemble it at a new location. From the bounty of nature they would make clothes, utensils, tools, and a sundry of other things to make the family comfortable.
    The men, on the other hand, would often lay around camp for days on end just shooting the breeze with other men. They would hunt and fish all day, delivering the catch to the women for processing. Often they would hold wild parties where they would dance throughout the night, stuffing themselves of food prepared by their womenfolk. many times, fearing their woman worked too hard, they would venture out to distant lands to find another young woman. He would bring her home then where she could help with all the chores around the home place. the men were very considerate of their women in this way.
    So anyway, back to the subject. One day there ventured into camp the white man. He looked upon the noble Indians, saw their way of life and were not amused. After much deliberation and dance around the communal fire, smoking the pipe etc. The leader of the white men stood and declared, "We shall make your life better". This brought amusement to the Braves, they looked at each other and then at the white men and with a simple gesture and a single word, changed history.
    The chief of the tribe stood, as the white man began to speak, the chief held out is hand in a stopping motion and asked him. How?
    The moral of the story is that when two men in suits knock on your door and say, "We are from the tribe of government, and we are here to help". Run Dude Run..

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