The State of the Nation

Nope, not going on a political rant. Not this time.

I'm going on a "how we got to be a nation" rant. Time to put things in perspective.

This country of ours, this America, was founded on the same principals and the same reasons that all nations are formed. We are no different than Britain or Japan or Russia or Germany. Before America became America, there were people already living here, wildlife in abundance and no fences. But, there were boundaries. Boundaries established by the people already living here. You crossed over into their territories, where they hunted their food, grew their crops, birthed their children – and what happened? They would fight you to keep you away from their resources. Some peoples were nomadic, like bison, and crossed over several boundaries to settle, for a time, then left when the resources became unfit. They left so that the resources could repopulate, regrow, renew. New peoples moved in, and the cycle continued.

When peoples came from other lands, they sought out resources as well. Some came for perceived riches, some came for the land itself on which to live and some people came because they were forced to build the land for others. It does not matter why they came. Just like all other peoples.

This land that came to be known as The Americas grew in its diversity. Yes, there was slaughter of other peoples to get control over the earth and its resources. The native tribes were not schooled in the technology of the age, had no guns and had no armor and were ill-equipped to fight against the peoples that came to take what the tribes believed to be their own resources. The tribes were spread apart, not unified, like the peoples from other lands, and therefore did not have the sheer numbers to fight a successful battle against those who came to take their hunting grounds. Yes, the "bloodthirsty" tribes fought in any way they knew how: kill the women because man cannot live without woman, kill the children so that they do not grow up to fight, kill the men to keep their resources. The fought with axes, spears, knives – what they killed animals for to survive, they used on the invading peoples. They fought with instinct and valor and necessity. The native tribes fought the white invaders as though they were packs of wolves threatening their existence. Which they were.

And, the invaders fought back. They crossed the invisible boundaries and put up real ones. They fought to protect their own resources, their own women, their own children. They built fortresses for protection, planted crops, hunted animals and created settlements. Just like the native tribes. There was no wrong and right, there was only survival in a new country, a country without already established civility that these invaders were accustomed to. It was wild, it was dangerous and it was not altogether friendly.

There were mosquitoes and snakes, wild animals, thick underbrush and nothing – nothing – was easy.
The native tribes did not try to change the land, but lived with it, as one. The invaders bent the land to suit them.

And we still are. And so are the native tribes. The descendants of the original tribes are living amongst the invaders now, and we are one nation. Not several nations in the same country. One nation. There are homes and cities and states, each with their own laws and regulations and taxes – but one nation.
The descendants of the original invaders live here, as do the enslaved, the indentured and the settlers who were born here.

We are all human, and human nature determines what we do and who we become. There should be no "Indian Nation" or "Black Nation" or "White Nation."

We are one nation. One America. One tribe.