Abundance Feaster!
Ngepi camp Namibia
I spent months pondering…. in an attempt to maintain my sanity and understand why I had been unjustly brutalised for years by the very people who I had been putting so much effort into helping. How could they justify attacking the hand that fed them with abuse at every level and many attempts to violently and illegally evict me from my business…. I finally came to this realisation>
So in the beginning ….. (and yes I know this is a gross generalisation)
While the (about to become) white man migrated up Africa and finally found himself in a cold, dark and wet Europe, and soon learned that he had to become a HOARDER to ensure that he survived the winter….. the Indigenous black African stayed here in Africa with its warm sunny days and afternoon thunder storms in the land of plenty. He continued to languish in the sun enjoying the fruits of this Garden of Eden environment where there was an abundance of fruit on the trees, food to be found in the ground and tasty wild animals everywhere.
To survive here however, he had to be acutely aware of his surrounding and become one with nature so that he could stay fed. He had to learn to read the spoor of the game and know their habits and where they would hang out and know the wind. He had to be closely attached to nature so as to know which fruits were good and which were not, and where to find them…. and when to move on… so the environment would recover.
When he did manage to hunt a buck that the Gods had graciously sent him, he had to consume it all quickly and completely as it would not keep till tomorrow. He learned that he must allow his neighbour to share this bounty with him, thereby ensuring that he would be allowed to feast when the Gods smiled on other community members and he was out of favour or there was witchcraft plaguing him. This community sharing spirit is the very essence and backbone of these peoples survival.
The indigenous African could therefore loosely be named an ABUNDANCE FEASTER.
Neither the European nor the African have considered that there are in fact TWO points of view!
The European Hoarder believes that all he has managed to accumulate was entirely due to him carefully applying his mind and long hours of dedicated hard work that ensured his survival. But if one looks at the Africans ‘community living where a benevolent God provides everything’ then he no doubt sees the Europeans abundance as him having taken more than his share and refusing to let others have their rightful share. In fact the Abundance Feaster no doubt sees the Hoarder as the thief!
Some spinoffs that have evolved from the hoarder are that he has a refrigerator, a house full of ‘necessary’ stuff and a password protected bank accounts. Some not so nice aspects of the hoarding show themselves in the fact that he has a high fence around his property to protect his hoarded stuff and in fact deliberately doesn’t want to know his neighbour … probably for fear that he may come and ask for some of his stash! All very foreign to an Abundance Feaster!
In modern times the European and the African have crossed the lines in both directions and become what they were not genetically programed to be, but it could be said that the abundance feaster should not be put in charge of the cash box….. or planning for the drought years, while at the same time his community living is obviously a more environmentally sustainable community system than the ‘grab all for yourself’ attitude of the hoarder we see today.
It can be said that the hoarder’s insecurity is out of control and has led to a lot of the greed we see in this world today – all to ensure that we make it through the winter of course!
A new balanced social system incorporating the best of both worlds would obviously be better for everyone in the long run …. . except those who are incurably insecure greedy hoarders perhaps?
The weather has a lot to answer for!!
Thinking back I remember the time when Masuku reported me to the police for taking his truck – he and others actually believed that the vehicles were theirs even though they had not paid a cent as agreed. Also how community members would ask to ‘LOAN’ money with the clear intention of never paying it back – neither party actually understanding the other! Another reality check is the crazy scenario of the bodies at a fatal accident scene being looted of all valuables. In fact it was God that had delivered his bounty – a stark reminder that we are very different!
I have learned that I will portion enough washing powder for the day for the domestic worker and keep the rest locked away.
I have learned that my staff coming on the Monday morning after pay day for a loan is just another confirmation that the abundance feaster is true to his nature.
I have learned that the obesity epidemic amongst the abundance feasters is just another confirmation of how they are programmed – the traffic police and the Government ‘fat cats’ being the most obvious examples!
I have also learned that the abundance feaster works on the premise that the ‘strongest survive’. Many confirmatory examples of this can be found every day – among them being his insistence to push in, to fight for and take every opportunity that comes his way as though it is a gift from the Gods that he must grab with both hands… or die!
The real danger today is the individual in a position of power who morphs the two cultures. A strange mix that inevitably festers into GREED which soon spirals out of control to become an insatiable ABUNDANCE HOARDER – a species that we need to urgently eradicate!
I have finally gained some useful perspectives…. and some peace.
More comments from others:-
- The English governors in Australia said of the Aborigine that his one problem was that he had no “sense of property”. He stole their sheep and crops and shared these amongst the tribes. It led to wars. Whilst Europeans put up fences around water wells and eventually even poisoned them.… a natural resource that the native peoples shared.
Of all the years of “transportation” to Australia that the English carried on…almost all was for property offenses. A loaf of bread, even a thimble in one case…could earn you 20 years in remote exile with hard labour. All designed to prop up the Western notion that state and private property is sacred.
I know nothing about the North American Indian, but I’ll bet it’s the same story.
- Darwin explained it very well; those that cannot adapt to change will not survive. This applies to all life and to us and to our inter-relationships, across colour lines, race and ethnic groups. Change is inevitable and adaptation is the key to survive. Tradition is the closed door.
- It’s just different! In general we cannot understand them and they not us – for the ones that do there is peace!
- Adultery and theft are not considered offenses against their Gods – now I understand why!
