AND THAT'S NOT JUST BECAUSE IF YOU STOP PAYING TAXES ON THE LAND, YOUR STATE WILL OWN IT!
I'VE SHOWN YOU BEFORE THAT IF YOU PAY NO TAXES ON YOUR 'PRIVATE PROPERTY', YOU WILL QUICKLY LOSE "YOUR" LAND.
BUT CAN THE STATE EVER OWN IT IN REALITY?
NO!
ALL OF THAT IS A PAPER SHUFFLE!
ALL OF THAT 'LAND OWNERSHIP' IS A MYTH!
NO ONE CAN OWN THE LAND!
THIS WAS AN AD OFF TO THE RIGHT OF A WEBSITE I WAS ON EARLIER.
IT HIT A NERVE.
I COULDN'T LET IT GO.
THE LIE SCREAMED AT ME FROM THE NICE PHOTO OF SOME OF THE WILD HORSES ON OUR OUTER BANKS.
HOW DARE SOME ADVERTISING AGENCY LIE LIKE THAT?
I DON'T CARE WHAT WOODY GUTHRIE SANG, OR WHAT DELUSIONS ANYONE OPERATES UNDER, NO ONE CAN EVER REALLY OWN THE LAND.
THIS LAND IS NO ONE'S LAND, NOR IS ANY LAND A POSSESSION.
LAND POSSESSES, BUT CANNOT BE POSSESSED.
THE LAND IS INDEPENDENT OF MAN, BUT MAN IS DEPENDENT ON THE LAND.
THE LAND EXISTED BEFORE MAN, AND WILL EXIST AFTER MAN HAS DISAPPEARED FROM IT.
PEOPLE CAN EITHER LEARN THAT THEY ARE PART OF THE LAND, THAT BOTH ARE LIVING ORGANISMS, THAT ONE IS DEPENDENT ON THE OTHER, MAKING THE LAND THE "KING", OR PEOPLE CAN DIE IN IGNORANCE, AS ENEMIES OF THE LAND.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ALL OVER THIS GLOBE LONG AGO REALIZED THAT THEY WERE BUT A SMALL PART OF 'THE LAND', THAT THEY, AS ALL OTHER CREATURES, WERE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON THE RESOURCES, THE HABITAT, EVEN THE WEATHER OF EACH BIT OF LAND THEY LIVED UPON...UPON...LET THAT SINK IN...WE BUT LIVE ON THE LAND, AND THEN WE ARE SENT BACK INTO THE LAND AT DEATH.
WHETHER ABOVE THE LAND OR BENEATH IT, WE ARE MERELY A SMALL, NEGLIGIBLE PART OF THE LAND.
MODERN MAN HAS BEEN TROUBLED BY, AND IN DENIAL OF THAT FACT FOR MANY HUNDREDS OF YEARS ON THIS CONTINENT, UNABLE TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE TRUTH.
ANCIENT TRIBAL PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGED THE NECESSITY OF TREATING THE LAND GENTLY, OF NOT DESTROYING THE LIFE-GIVER, OF NOT DEPLETING EVERYTHING IN THE AREAS THEY LIVED ON. PERHAPS THAT'S WHY MOST WERE NOMADIC FOR SO LONG. THEY KNEW TO STAY AWHILE, MOVE ON, LET THE LAND RECOVER, THEN, MAYBE, COME BACK FOR ANOTHER SHORT STAY.
THOSE WHO STAYED PUT IN ONE AREA FOR LONGER AMOUNTS OF TIME SELF-LIMITED WHAT THEY TOOK, KNOWING THAT THE LAND WAS NOT A BOTTOMLESS SUPPLIER OF ALL THEY NEEDED, AND USING AS LITTLE AS WAS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
THEY KNEW THAT GREED AND OVERUSE WOULD MEAN DEATH, NOT JUST TO THE LAND, BUT TO THEY WHO LIVED ON THAT LAND.
THEY SAFEGUARDED THE WATER SUPPLIES, KNOWING BETTER THAN TO POLLUTE THE VERY STREAMS THEY DRANK FROM. THEY LIVED IN DWELLINGS THAT MERELY SUFFICED, ATE THE FOODS THAT WERE IN SEASON AND WERE LOCALLY AVAILABLE, DID WITHOUT CONSIDERABLY WHEN TIMES GOT HARD.
THEY KNEW THE LIMITS OF THE LAND, AND THE LIMITS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE...THEY PLANNED ACCORDINGLY.
IT WAS UNIMAGINABLE TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE THAT ONE PERSON, OR GROUP OF PEOPLE, COULD CLAIM TO OWN THE LAND.
YES, TRIBES AND CLANS DID GATHER 'IN PLACE', AND YES, BATTLES WERE FOUGHT FOR HUNTING RIGHTS, TO KEEP PLANTED CROPS, TO STAY NEAR GOOD WATER, ETC, BUT THE LOSERS SIMPLY MOVED ON. THEY KNEW THAT SOMEWHERE THEY'D FIND A PLACE TO CALL HOME, FOR A SEASON OR FOR A 'CYCLE'.
THEY HAD THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO SURVIVE AND TO SUSTAIN THE LAND THEY USED WHEREVER THEY FOUND THEMSELVES.
NOT SO ANYMORE.
THE "NEW MAN", THE "MODERN MAN" SEES NO NEED TO SUSTAIN THE LAND.
MODERN MAN HAS NEVER GONE TO THE EARTH AS A CHILD TO ITS MOTHER AND SAID, "MOTHER, MAY I....?"
HE HAS NO RESPECT NOR COMPASSION FOR THE VERY ONE WHO GIVES HIM LIFE...FOOD, WATER, AIR TO BREATHE, SHELTER, EVERYTHING.
HE PAYS NO HOMAGE TO IT, REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE WHICH ENTITY DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON THE OTHER.
YOU SEE, MAN MAY WELL DESTROY EVERYTHING WHEREVER HE GOES, BUT THE EARTH KNOWS THAT ONCE MAN IS ERASED FROM IT, IT CAN RECOVER ON ITS OWN ...WITHOUT MANKIND.
THE EARTH ITSELF HAS NO NEED FOR HUMANS.
HUMANS HAVE NEED OF THE EARTH.
MODERN MAN CONTINUOUSLY TAKES, THE EARTH CONTINUOUSLY GIVES, BUT THE EARTH KNOWS HOW FAR TO GO, MAN DOES NOT.
MAN WILL TAKE UNTIL HE SEES NOTHING LEFT, BUT THE EARTH KEEPS 'RESERVES', KNOWING SUCH MEN WILL NOT LONG SURVIVE IN THE LONG RUN.
SHE KEEPS ENOUGH FOR A 'RESTART', JUST ENOUGH TO COME BACK FROM THE DEVASTATION ONCE MAN IS GONE.
SOME ANCIENT CULTURES MADE THE MISTAKES THAT TODAY'S HUMANS ARE MAKING.
WE COME ACROSS THE RUINS OF THEIR CITIES HERE AND THERE AND SHAKE OUR HEADS AND WONDER WHY THEY DIDN'T SEE WHAT THEY WERE DOING WRONG AND STOP IT BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE.
THEN "MODERN MAN" DOES EXACTLY AS THE IGNORANT ONES BEFORE THEM DID.
THEY WENT BEYOND NEED, THEY "PROGRESSED" TO WANT...TO WANTING MORE THAN THEY NEEDED. THEY TURNED THEIR BACKS ON SUSTAINABILITY AND DIVED INTO OVERABUNDANCE, INTO 'LUXURY', INTO TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING.
THEIR 'FOOTPRINT' BECAME A GIANT WHIRLWIND THAT SUCKED UP EVERYTHING, AND THEN THEY WERE CAUGHT UP BY THAT VERY WHIRLWIND...AND WERE GONE.
SUCH IS THE FATE OF 'MODERN MAN'.
A CHILD OF 7 OR 8 YEARS OLD CAN SEE IT.
CHILDREN KNOW THAT WHEN ALL THE TREATS ARE GONE, THERE ARE NO MORE TREATS. THEY KNOW THAT WHEN THE PARTY IS OVER, SO ARE THE PARTY FAVORS. A CHILD REALIZES ITS INABILITY TO REPLACE THINGS, ITS DEPENDENCE ON ADULTS FOR SUSTENANCE, FOR ALL THAT MEANS LIFE.
CHILDREN ARE SMARTER THAN ADULTS IT SEEMS.
AS ARE ANIMALS...
NO ANIMAL WILL INTENTIONALLY FOUL ITS WATER SUPPLY.
NO ANIMAL WILL POISON ITS FOOD SOURCES.
NO ANIMAL WILL SCRAPE THE EARTH CLEAN OF LIFE-GIVING NECESSITIES JUST FOR THE SAKE OF SCRAPING.
NO SOUND ANIMAL WILL GO OUT AND GORGE ITSELF TO DEATH.
NO ANIMAL EXCEPT THE HUMAN ANIMAL, THAT IS.
NO, THIS LAND IS NOT YOUR LAND, NOR MY LAND, BUT WE ARE THE LAND'S OFFSPRING.
WE BELONG TO THE LAND, FOR IT SUSTAINS US.
WE DO NOTHING TO WARRANT ITS GENEROSITY, ITS PATIENCE WITH US, ITS GIFTS.
IT DOES EVERYTHING TO WARRANT OUR CARING FOR IT.
THE LAND IS LIFE.
IF WE WANT LIFE, WE NEED TO RECOGNIZE OUR PLACE IN THE 'GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS'...WE ARE THE DEPENDENTS.
WE ARE BUT A SMALL PART OF ALL THAT IS THE LAND.
THE EARTH WOULD NOT BE OFFENDED BY OUR COMPLETE DEMISE.
WE WOULD CEASE TO EXIST SHOULD THE EARTH BECOME A WASTELAND.
MAYBE THAT IS ALL THE EARTH IS WAITING FOR?
LIFE AFTER PEOPLE....THE BEAUTY AND THE BALANCE WOULD RETURN, WOULDN'T IT?
WHAT A SAD LEGACY HUMANS WOULD LEAVE.
AND AFTER SOME TIME HA PASSED, ANY TRACE OF OUR BEING HERE WOULD VANISH.
OWN THE LAND?
THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE.
IT OWNS US!
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