Cowboys VS Indians

Native American culture, just like any culture, has the right to exist in our world today, but there is no universal singular Native culture. There is a great deal of diversity among Native nations, and there are some major differences between “them” and “us”. Being a “native” Russian I wanted to compare the two civilizations and figure out for myself which one would I prefer to stick to. I’m going to talk about time management, money savings, competition and harmony with the nature, and what they mean for each civilization.

I’ve found that the biggest difference between those two worlds is the time concept. In old times, most tribes did not have a word for time, because time was a very relative matter. They did not have clocks and they didn’t make appointments with each other – it just happened whenever it happened. There was the month to pick berries. It was time to wake up when the sun came up. It was never like that in Russia or USSR. At least not in the last one thousand years or so – ever since they started writing the history. It might have something to do with the fact that Russia is considered to be a part of Europe and many European traditions and ways of life had always had very strong influence on my people. I suspect that Indians do keep track of time now-days, but only because the society forces them to do so, not because they necessarily want to. Russia these days is also a very Westernized country. I couldn’t have imagined my life there without a watch. I received my first on for my 6th birthday and it was the best present ever. But sometimes I do wish that I didn’t have the clock and didn’t have to refer to it every time I wanted to do something with a certain amounts of time set aside for each task or job. It’s a very strange thing to be dependent on something that doesn’t exist.

Europeans and Americans say “A penny saved is a penny earned” – it’s not the same for Indians. They respect a person who gives, and someone who is greedy is watched with skepticism. In our wold today if you are rich and have a lot of investments – you are respected and looked up to. Even education is an investment into the future. I’m a big money-saver myself these days, because saving money has been made the purpose of my life by the society. But it’s only recently that I became this way. In the Soviet Russia, even 25 years ago, money was not an issue. Communist ideology implied that money didn’t exist and everyone is equally rich. This somewhat reminds me of the Indian view on this subject and I completely agree with them here. I love to give away presents and would like to be even more generous. Maybe if every person was to give another person something of his own as a gift, the world would be a better place.

I was told in my Business class that competition is healthy and essential for humankind. You do not have to win but you must try to achieve first place. This is the way we’re taught the life is, this is the way our life is. But I guess it doesn’t have to be that way. Cooperation was appropriate and normal for Native Americans. It probably still is. Everyone was equal among themselves and anyone who tried to stand out was showing off. Centralized economy of USSR assumed the same values: we believed in team effort and cooperating labor. We worked and lived together, did spring cleaning and food harvesting as one whole. Some might accuse me of being a communist, but I liked the way it worked out, it was somewhat easier for everyone. There was some competition, but it was a contest of helping other human beings.

Modern white man wants to conquer the Nature by building dams and power plants, extracting the Earth’s juices in the form of countless natural resources. There are preserves set aside where land, plant, and animal life are in their natural state, but these are exceptions. At the same time Indians accepted the Nature the way it was and learned how to live in harmony with it. They did not try to change it: If a log falls across a creek, no one moves it. The creek path might change, but that is harmony. Farmers did plant seed and irrigate their crops, but these are exceptions. I myself had spent month at a time alone in the wilderness of Northern Minnesota camping, fishing and submerging into the Nature. This kind of behaviour might have something to do with the way I was raised: be kind to the wold and it will be kind right back to you. Do not exploit the Earth and it will give you everything you need. Carma exists and you need to treat others with respect. I’m extremely disappointed with the way we deal with our own planet right now. I don’t even want to get into the possible consequences of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

When I was a boy, Indians were the one-dimensional bad guys in cowboys vs Indians movies. Still, we all wanted to be Indians.  They were cool, knew how to survive in the woods, knew how to tread silently through a forest, dressed in loincloths, lived in tepees and carried tomahawks.  And they played tom-toms. Sometimes I wish I was Indian.