Creation stories

Heidi got "Free Tibet" socks from "our support team", which are awesome.
We posted a photo of them on Facebook; and lots of people "Like"-d it.

And then, of course, we read the dioramas and historical info at the "Land Between the Lakes" Visitor Center. We read about "the Trail of Tears", where the tribes who lived here were marched West by American tribes/armies to "clear the land for 'settlers'", sort of the like the Bataan Death March that the Japanese army forced on Phillipino and American soldiers in the Phillipines during WWII (judged to be a "war crime" - by the victors of that war). Lots of Cherokee (and others) died on "the Trail of Tears". The Cherokee were forced to march during winter, in fact.
Get out! And stay out!

But that's not part of "our" "history". "Our" "history" is all about "freedom" and "democracy", the "Boston tea party", "the Founding Fathers" and "the Constitution". We call our sports teams the "Redskins", the "Indians" and the "49ers" (after the CA "gold rush" of 1849, as I'm sure you recall). The lily white suburban fans in Atlanta faithfully do "the tomahawk chop" at "Braves" games.

If someone says their people came from the Raven, does that really sound any crazier than "the Earth was created in 7 days"? That "Eve came from Adam's rib"? If someone's creation story values the Earth and the animals (other than humans, as well as human animals) and plants is that any crazier than living by a book written by many different people thousands of years ago, translated many times, and interpreted in many different ways, even when it leads to perverse actions and outcomes? Is it "better" because it is written down, as opposed to an oral history?

When we call our sports teams after the era of "our" people that overwhelmed "their" people, the ones who lived here before our recent ancestors arrived here (the Cleveland Indians, "the Texas Rangers") can we really be critical of the Chinese that are "rushing" to Tibet to mine, to build trains, highways, airports, electricity generating power plants and transmission lines (for themselves, while claiming they are doing it to help the "backward" Tibetans; just like "the missionaries" who taught "the Indians carpentry - and how to survive in the wild"), even when those things are in or on "sacred" sites of "the natives"?
Freedom?
Moral?
Good?

Will the Chinese "creation story" of their very own "Manifest Destiny" portray their "settlers" as heroes? As marauders? As "civilizing" the heathen natives? As thieves? Will they name their sports teams after the Tibetans, the "gold rush", even the "warriors" that fought against them in the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese "settlers" (supported by the CIA, by the way - and by your [or your parent's] tax dollars)?

Our push onto other people's lands began as soon as "we" Europeans landed on "North America", and we pushed West in earnest by around 1830. The Chinese are doing it now, starting with their invasion of Tibet as WWII came to a close in 1951 (with Soviet help), a mere 120 years after we did the same thing to Kentucky, to Tennessee, to Texas, to California etc
How long have Arizona and New Mexico been states?
100 years.
And that's not very long, is it?

It sure is sad to SEE it happening in Tibet, of course; as it surely IS happening. But we Americans, Canadians and Mexicans (via the British, French, and Spanish, primarily) really ought to look in the mirror more and consider doing a better job ourselves before we scream "human rights!" when we see what other nation states/govts/people/'corporate people' are doing; and living in denial about their abuses as they write their own "creation story". I'm sure they'll have their own "Founding Fathers", their own "Louisiana Purchase", their own "Lewis and Clark". And they'll likely celebrate them as much as we do.

And we should remember that; we should remember our own history. And try to do better, next time, no matter how wonderful our own "creation stories" are - that we tell ourselves.