I have always been intrigued by the idea of "Geronimo's Cadillac."
I heard the song years ago and of course, (because that is what I do) got the meaning wrong.
The idea of Geronimo driving in a Cadillac fascinated me because I saw it as a contradiction of terms. A confusion of time and place.
The last great warrior driving around in the new automobile. Sort of like the guy with the Luger and the car in "The Searchers."
I have been downloading books to listen to while picking up endless fields of straw bales. Something which I no longer enjoy as much as I once did.
I'm using Librivox which in an app for my iPhone. Books are read by volunteers. They are free.
CLick here for a Link to someone smarter than I who has better comments on the song than I.
Yesterday I listened to Geronimo's life story.
I found it interesting that he seemed to view himself as a conquered leader and not as a victim. He had great respect for the president and the military officers who treated him well.
He was interested in new things and had a great time at the Worlds Fair.
He really hated Mexicans for killing his family.
If the US Government would not have used treachery and respected their treaties then our history would have been much different.
No lessons are carried over to modern conflicts.
Killing people's families tends to turn the survivors into dedicated insurgents...
It is quite interesting that this all happened at the turn of the 20th century. It was not that long ago.
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Conquest is such a nicer and more acceptable word than stealing! Because our forefathers were no better or morally superior to the Amerinds of myth, in raping the land and fighting with their neighbors, does not justify our continuing to do so. As you so aptly put it: "Killing people's families tends to turn the survivors into dedicated insurgents..." Our international policies of greed and war have done a lot to aid the rapid growth of the fundamentalist hoards hoards that are currently plaguing the world. Some day we will realize that you can't buy peace by distributing vast sums of money and munitions to whoever is the current favorite. It will all just be used against us by the next regime.
ReplyDeleteFrom listening to the story of Geronimo I think he understood the difference between conquest and theft.
DeleteWhen you fight a war or you have a contest there is a winner and a loser. Both parties give their absolute all to win. One party will lose.
The party who wins chooses to treat the loser in an "honorable" fashion. Meaning, tells the truth, adheres to the conditions of surrender, does not invite the other party into a tent to discuss terms and then murder the other party, etc.
The problem with the the USA and Mexico is that they claimed moral superiority. Supposedly "Christian" nations and so they should be judged according to the clearly defined standards of Christianity.
Especially the USA which claim a certain "City on a Hill," status.
They did not follow the standards of truthfulness and justice which are held forth as standards of behavior for individual Christians.
I think Geronimo understood that.
We claimed a higher standard and did not hold to that standard and are paying the consequences today.
In my opinion.
I don't think it matters if you believe in the Christian God or not. The issue is proclaiming a moral standard and then not living up to it.
I'm always entertained by groups that wish to encroach on Indian gaming. In the pursuit of land, timber, furs, gold, oil, etc., our very recent ancestors were quite good at theft. Logic would indicate that if past actions were logical and ethical pursuit of gaming for non-native peoples and endless military spending and killing in the Middle East is entirely the right thing to do. I am temporarily relieved that there is an ocean between me and ISIS. It's too much. I'm going to spend the rest of the day thinking about picking up endless bales of hay.
ReplyDeleteEndless bales of hay.... That is my punishment... I will never reach Elysium nor the relative relief of the plains of Aspodel, no... my lot will be endless fields of hay with a slightly malfunctioning New Holland stacker, for all eternity.
DeleteAnd yet had our forefathers not opened lands for farming and other resources or attempted to inhabit those lands with a population density greater than .01 person per square mile the rest of the world, including those gambling casinos, would never have been.
ReplyDeleteIn fact we wouldn't have those endless bales of straw and hay to pick up.
People use the land as long as they have the will to hold it. The Clovis peoples were prolly not happy about being replaced either and unless our government let's us defend ourselves we may not be happy about as well.
yup
DeleteI've always said that when you take someone's reason for living, you give him a cause to die for, and THAT makes him dangerous.
ReplyDeleteAnd the USA does this time and time again.
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