Nature's Lament

Down the valley,
He walked.
Through paths undisturbed,
Awakening the sleeping.


Ignoring the signs,
Unaware of imminent danger,
He sat, and rested,
Upon sacred ground.


He settled,
He relaxed,
He rested,
And remained.


Unwelcome in this land,
He felled the trees around him.
Removing the quiet,
He would be alone no more.


Once the land was cleared,
The dead lay in a pile,
Their bodies desecrated,
Used for homes,
His kin began to arrive.


The boats crunching upon the virgin shore,
Pounding feet along a new path,
Heading towards a new life,
But the same old death.


They arrived,
And began to live,
Amongst the death,
Happy, and at peace,
The forests cried at their presence.


For years they resided,
Spreading further,
And longer,
Flattened land,
Devoid of life.


More arrived,
Drawn by tales of paradise,
By the scent of a new,
Untouched world.


As more and more life arrived,
More and more left the land,
Retreating,
Residing in places unknown.


Villages became cities,
Forests became deserts,
Vast plains filled,
Losing life,
Losing spirit.


But the land was preparing,
For the last chance,
The towns were unawares,
Unsafe from the turmoil
That would send them away,
Far from this land.


The land waited,
Gradually stripped bare,
Anger boiling,
Waiting to burst free.


After many years,
The land gave in.
Released its emotion,
Bursting out and free.


The anger flowed through the plains,
The sorrow over the deserts,
The emotion into the cities.


The land removed the cancer which was growing,
Returned life to its halls.
Sent energy along,
Down the valley,
Over the long forgotten path,
Into the unnatural clearing,
It pooled,
It rested,
Just as he had done.


When the land had finished,
When its anger and sorrow were spent,
The cities were left empty.
The plains renewed.
The deserts devoid of humanity.
And yet, the land was filled with hope.
A single seed, on the edge of the pool,
Waiting, resting,
In the clearing,
By the path,
Down the valley.
Waiting.

Tradition and Culture In Families and Society.

Tradition and culture is fine individually. As long as it harms no one other than yourself, go ahead.
However, when it is forced upon others, that is when it becomes a problem. This is most commonly seen in the form of indoctrination.
Indoctrination is the forcing of a religion, tradition, or culture on an innocent child. In today's society, this should be unacceptable. But, it happens regularly. A child is labelled as a 'Catholic child' or a 'Muslim child'. These phrases should cause outrage, as Dawkins rightfully points out. Why would you force something - something that will usually shape the way someone lives - on a child unable to think properly for itself? This is where indoctrination becomes harmful.
A child does not have the ability to decide for themselves whether a particular religion, tradition, or culture is sensible, right, or moral. What should be happening is this: parents should raise their children to think for themselves, to accept scientific evidence as right, and to discard views proved wrong by said evidence, even if these views happen to be justified by previous outdated scientific evidence.
Unfortunately, parents are bringing up their children to blindly believe in a faith which is unproven, and even has evidence disproving it. These children are left vulnerable for the rest of their lives. They are taught that blind faith is a virtue.
Some parents, surely the worst kind, even send their offspring to schools that teach false science. Schools that tell children that the earth is less that 10,000 years old. The amount of evidence against this is overwhelming. These schools are even funded by the British government!
Surely, children brought up to believe in something that has been disproven by significant amounts of reliable scientific evidence are not the way of the future, but rather, a step towards the past. These false teachings are only marginally better than teaching children that the world is flat.
A common argument for the indoctrination of children is as follows:
"This religion and it's holy book teaches us morals, and the difference between right and wrong."
This is usually said by Christians, the holy book being the Bible. In order to fully rebunk this argument, I shall direct you towards Richard Dawkins' masterpiece "The God Delusion". But, I shall also attempt my best here.
Those of you who have actually read the bible will know that there is as many, if not more, parts in it which would be seen as unacceptable today. Now, in relation to the moral Zeitgeist, which I shall not even try to delve into here, the 'morals' found in 'the good book' may have been acceptable at the time(s) of writing. Now, however, they are frightfully out of date.
Also, religion is not our source of morals. The 'moral lessons' found in the bible are mixed with many pitifully wrong and sick lessons. In order to choose right from wrong, as many theologists say they do, you need a basis to. . . base them on. A moral basis. You cannot try to say that religious people have an external source of morals that atheists simply do not have. Even if they did, the morals would originate from there, not the bible.
Without religion, we surely would still have our morals. Some religious apologists try to say that the existence of a god is our reasoning behind good and bad. So, according to these people, without a god, the world would be in chaos. How deluded these people are. If a god did exist, surely he would not accept people who are good simply because they are being watched. The most convincing argument against these people are atheists. Their very existence argues against that theory. Atheists do not believe in a god, and yet, the majority are still good people. They still have a very good sense of right and wrong.
Dawkins makes these points and many more. For fuller, better reasoning, read his books, The God Delusion in particular. Also, google him. Find his website. Tis very good.
So, I've gone from culture and tradition in family and society to an argument against religion. I couldn't help it. But, religion is probably the biggest source of culture and tradition in the world. And, as I have tried to point out, if only briefly, as there are many more arguments, religion is not necessary, and certainly not a good thing. Especially when indoctrinated at a young age.
So, it is my strong view that you are entitled to have your own culture, tradition, and religion. As long as your actions due to them do not harm others, and especially, I cannot emphasise this enough, as long as you DO NOT  force these views on others, ESPECIALLY young children, even if they are your own. Let them think for themselves. Don't subject them to your views.
They are human too.
They have a right to make their own decisions.

An Open Letter to Witi Ihimaera.

Dear Mr Ihimaera,

First off, I did not like the Whale Rider. While I respect your writing, and can see why many people enjoy it, your overuse of metaphors, similes, and other various descriptive language features turn what seemed like a good story idea into a piece of overly poetic writing which I could not enjoy.

Right. Now I've got that out of the way, I can get to it. The Whale Rider addresses the loss of cultural identity in a few ways. I'm sure you know this. I have to ask, is loss of cultural identity really that bad? Is cultural identity more important than personal identity?

Sure, cultural identity doesn't have to be lost for your own personal identity. But a lot of the time, it is. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that culture is overly unnecessary. It is good to know about your heritage, and how things were, but that's all it is. How things were. Some of these cultural ideas may be relevant in the present, but in this age of growing atheism, many cultural ideas are frowned upon. Older cultures, such as your own, no doubt, are based mainly on religion. As Richard Dawkins points out flawlessly, religion is no source for morals or any other use today. I have no way of knowing for sure whether women in Maori culture are treated as they were in your story, but if they are, it is only another point in my case. Another reason for the loss of cultural identity being a good thing.

In today's day and age, culture is not valued very highly. It can be used endlessly, and hence, it has lost value. Sure, it defines who you are. But, you don't need to have culture to identify yourself.

There are various other ways to do this. In the choices you make, the things you do, the acquaintances you make.

But, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Everyone is welcome to share their opinions. If you choose to do so in a story, be my guest. But, when the story is studied in schools, I feel I must share my opinion.

So, while your story can be interpreted as good, it is not for me. This is also true for your view on cultural identity.

Sincerely

~Ashm

Of Plans and Playthings

Ahh, I do love it when a plan comes together.
As I may have mentioned, I gave Ashm a break. So, I took the time to finish a few things off.
The main one, beginning the downfall of a major country. Americans are so easy to manipulate. When the FBI find him, he will have no memory of the event. Those fools will probably kill him anyway. This alone, will keep me satisfied.
Additionally, I have been working closer to this one. In order to make sure he stays alive. To prolong his suffering. I have sent one to join me. Whilst leaving meaningless clues behind, in order to create beautiful confusion. I wish you luck in finding a link between a crashed car and empty shoes.
The other, simply a disappearance. A creation of loss, despair, whilst leaving some false hope to add texture. And, to keep their hunt going, a brief, but useless, cellphone signal.
Enjoy that, puppets.
Now, my favoured plaything, this visit shall be brief.
I shall return, very soon.
~Sialon