Fiction by Susan L.

  Dean Koonz is a marvelous writer, adept at weaving words. I just finished devouring one of his stories, "Strangers". I couldn't put it down but there was something he said in it that has got me thinking. The book is about having contact with another, more advanced species from space. Two of the characters got into a discussion regarding the impact this would have on humans. Using our own history, they talked about the impact Europeans had on the Inuit; how meeting a superior culture, rich in tradition, more scientifically advanced, has left them depressed, coping with addictions and generally lost. It was implied that because the Inuit lived a simple life as hunter gatherers, they must be inferior.
  I know it was only in the story but then most writers, myself included, only write about what they know. A deep rooted prejudice and a great deal of ignorance leaked through. Sorry, Dean. We only know what we've been taught.
  The Inuit have between fifty-two and ninety-three words for snow. That's mind boggling and bespeaks of a deep connection to the environment. They have a rich, oral tradition of story and song that spans the generations. Elders are treated with respect and honour. That's just a few star qualities.
  Like the Native Americans, perhaps their struggles have less to do with meeting a "superior European" than dealing with the impact of having lands and children taken away. Perhaps being killed by people who wanted everything for themselves... Perhaps dealing with people who treat them and their ways as trash might have even more to do with the challenges many aboriginal peoples are struggling with. Perhaps having hunting and fishing rights taken away so they can't provide for their loved ones has robbed them of dignity...The injustices go on.
  It is a shameful mark against both Canada and the US. that this still goes on just so we can get the black gold, precious metals and even diamonds that lay under the few remaining lands their "superiors" begrudgingly gave them after taking their homes away.
  If an alien race came to earth with the same idea I doubt we'd fare any better, white skinned or not.
  "For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack--that their may be equality." 2 Cor 8:12-14