All Good Things Must Come To an End

I'm in the last full week in Washington D.C. I've had an amazing time, and I plan to use my last week here to the fullest.

I have a lot of information to sort through, and I'm getting pretty excited about the final product.

I finally visited the Smithsonian Castle this week, and went to the Oriental Art Museum that's in the garden.

Yeah, I know that's not part of the project exactly...

Anyways,

I also spent a lot of time at the Museum of the American Indian learning about how Native Americans handle the major, forced changes to their cultures because of the colonization of their lands.

It's really quite admirable that the different cultures all teach about sticking together as a people to preserve their culture, language, and traditions. They also teach that as a people, they are required to integrate into the modern world, but also to preserve tradition and history, which can oftentimes be quite difficult.

The other, immensely cool thing, is the leaders always talk about not hating the peoples who live in their native lands now. They talk about reconciliation and making something of and restoring their people. There is a lot of focus on bettering the circumstances of the youth, to turn them into future leaders for Native communities and enable them to live happy, productive lives all while knowing who they are.

This is one of the best things I've been reading about through the whole exploration of the modern period.

Contrast this to the response of four Polish workers who were mistreated under German rule. They wished for the Germans to work as hard as they had to, and resented the reasonable treatment of the Germans, the careful calculation of rations "as though they [the German people] were being cared for in a hospital."

This statement in itself represents two different ways that those who lost were treated.

On the one hand, there are the other losers of the war, the victims of the victims, who were meant to feel as though they won something, but felt cheated of their true victory because the German people would never understand exactly what they put the other races they conquered through. And, they never would. In the modern age, those kinds of horrible, horrible things would never be repeated to 'prove something' or 'teach a lesson', not on that kind of scale. Not like in ancient times. The earth would not be salted like with Carthage.

On the other hand, it shows some sort of progression that the defeated were being treated as losers, yes, and as a people who were being occupied because terrible things had been allowed to happen in their country. But, they were not punished to the extent that other groups like the Native Americans or Jewish, or Serfs were, where those in charge subjected those who had lost to terrible conditions, and were essentially able to do whatever they wanted with the losing party.

I will say that as a caveat, the Germans were white, European, and had things that the Allies needed, but I would still call that a step in the right direction.

This week's song is Below My Feet by Mumford and Sons. Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. If the world all keeps a hold of their heads, perhaps we can keep progressing toward whatever humanity (a word we have oddly called after ourselves, humans, oh 'wise man') really is. Some food for thought. Have a great week everyone.

Ciao!