In the case that you don’t have a clue what this image is—and most of you, if not all, won’t—it’s a screenshot from a really old computer game called Colonization, a Sid Meier’s game. A game that I used to play and enjoy. You got to be a colonial nation, bring Christianity to the heathens, burn Incan cities to the ground for gold and war with other Europeans. Great fun.
It’s funny how life comes full circle. Or is it a half circle? Colonization takes up a lot of my mind. I think about it all the time. Yesterday, I briefly talked about the documentary God Grew Tired of Us. A film that focuses on three Sudanese men who were refugees—part of the group labeled as the Lost Boys of Sudan—and made there way out of Sudan, to Kenya and, ten years later, to America. There are sections of sadness, humor, loneliness and triumph.
There is a great section when they first get to America and everything is so new to them. They have to learn how to flip a switch on/off, how the fridge works, how the toilet works. There is a brilliant moment where one of the men is mashing up crackers with the handle of a hammer in a kettle, then he pours milk in and puts it on the stove. It’s funny. It’s supposed to be. It also makes us realize how much we take for granted.
I said there were lots of different emotions. I didn’t feel any of them. Not really. At times, it was like watching a really long World Vision commercial. And all I can do is shutoff. There are a lot of emotions I can ignore. A lot I have trained myself to ignore. But, as soon as colonization was mentioned, I couldn’t ignore it. Then I knew, then I felt it—guilt.
Britain leaves the Sudan and instead of breaking up the Muslim north and Christian south they leave the split country to fight it out. And they do. Which, in turn, creates the necessity for this film.
As a white man, with an English heritage, I bear the sins and curses of my father and mothers before me. Maybe, you’d be tempted to say, Rhett, you are not responsible. I say, fine, throw out the few drops of Welsh blood in me. I am still the child of the richest, most powerful continent in the world. With the power to do anything. I am, we are, guilty of Rwanda, Sudan, Darfur, etc. We are guilty of destroying this planet in every way we can imagine.
Isn’t it weird to think that while living in one of the most powerful countries in the world that I feel completely powerless. Like being in a room of people and being lonely.
I have to say, however, that guilt is not the worst thing. I can live with guilt. I can’t live with the idea that there is no one to forgive me. I’m not talking about Jesus here. How do I apologize to Africa for my part in what has been done to them? How do I apologize to India, China or South America?
It’s a great movie. At the very least, we are called to action. Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.
So many thoughts, it is hard to frame some comments. While we must bear some guilt for the sins of our fathers it is too easy to lay all the blame on colonialism there are too many examples of barabarism (such as Hitler, Stalin, Cambodia…) where it wasn’t a factor. While there seems to be no end to them I can’t share your despair about that we are destroying the world in every way imaginable. There are a lot of good things happening that give me hope that we can repair a lot of the damage – unquestionably we need the political will to do it but at least the options are there.
Yes. I think there is still room for hope. I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer. I just find it all a little overwhelming.
Good, I was beginning to think you were turning into Chicken Little, the sky isn’t falling just yet.
At what point is enough enough though? How many automobiles, technological improvements, more efficient fridges, stoves, homes, lights, fuels? How big can the human ecological footprint grow and still leave a little for everything else? The technology is out there, but how do we change people? How do we change our behaviour our way of thinking our consumptive lifestyles? Our sense that we work hard and deserve everything we have because we worked so hard for it… – I don’t have any answers just questions and thoughts…
Rhett – Jared Diamond talks a lot about colonialism, you should try ‘Guns Germs Steel’ – I couldn’t get through it… or ‘A Short History of Progress’ – Ronald Wright is a great and short book on colonialism and our recent domination…
“We are all addicted to the same Nicotine, we are all addicted to the same gasoline, and one for the Lorax who speaks for the tree’s” – check out Michael Franti and Spearheads music – he was at Regina Folk Fest and stole the show!!
Yeh, Curt I agree. I think perhaps I will write a little something about it. But there is a certain myth of progress.
I could add a hundred more questions to Curtis’s and recommend many more readings, but the same I also have no answers. Thinking of the injustices in the world often consumes and depresses me… as it should, I, the same as everyone that has the skills and technology to read this, is privileged and wasteful, and guilty of not doing everything in my power to right the wrongs in the world. To help me get through this consuming depression, I have started to make small lifestyle changes that I think make the world better – meatless days, not shopping at wal mart, buying organic, local and fair traded products whenever possible, walking instead of driving, giving my change to the people on the street (i don’t care what they are using it for, they need it more then i need a coffee). All little things that make me feel a little better. I am still not even scratching the surface of what I can do, what I can give. I am trying to throw off the selfish, self serving, consumeristic notions that our society has ingrained in us. Ghandi was a remarkable man, if you know nothing else about him know this quote “Be the change you want to see in the world” We can feel as overwhelmed as we want, but every single person can always do something more – but don’t do it for yourself, you do enough for yourself.