Native Inteligence
As I faintly recall, in 1973, I was in the Atlas mountains in a village called Ketama in Morocco. It was at the end of November and there was a constant drizzle and a lot of mud. A river ran down the centre of the town. I wasn’t there for my health. When I asked the landlord of the shack I was staying in where I could go to the toilet, he pointed to the river. Old style. As I humped my way down, I noticed the rusted out car in the river. I could just make out the Renault designation. It was from the middle 50’s.
I had the profound realization that I was in a very old land indeed, and in fact, Morocco is commonly referred to as the ‘gateway to Africa’. The Moroccans had been witness to people from every land and culture on earth. Any assumption that I was bringing wisdom, sophistication and a superior way of being, vanished from my mind. I was the student. Ron and Diane are treated to a beautiful home made lunch in Mogok Myanmar by the family of local gem fixer, I relate this story because a lot of westerners, and I use the term liberally, believe that they are the ‘the truth, the light and the way ’ to all the so-called, third world societies.
I have been accused of taking advantage of the poor and naive. This idea that we are smart and they are helpless and at our mercy is simply ludicrous. When I buy gemstones, those dealers I am meeting are the most savvy, clever and cunning of their society. If you think it is easy to buy from a t-shirt salesman on a Bangkok street or a Vietnamese stone dealer from Luc Yen you are sadly mistaken.
The Massai have been buying and selling cattle for centuries and they are hard, clever and adroit hagglers. I almost had to marry off Diane to an Massai Elder to get a reasonable deal. For all us “first” worlders , it takes a simple wakefulness as we trip around the older cultures of this planet, to be disabused of our patronizing notions of superiority.If you are able to shed your presumptions, you might just learn a few things about exceptionalism. I did.','Native Intelligence'
