as i get older

last thursday (october 4) i went to see a talk/interview with a maasai warrior whom was visiting north america for the first time mostly to raise awareness of the issues that his people were experiencing

one of the main things was their cows were going 'crazy' (BSE?) - cows are the lifeblood of the maasai people; the other issue was the deforestation of their lands as trees were used as fuel and building material

the maasai people had to go outside of their traditional boundaries to seek work and food; there was also a push to educate themselves so that they could learn how to interact with the outside world

learning swahili, a money economy, tree planting and other skills have allowed the maasai people to survive but there is a gradual erosion of their culture that is occurring

the false promise of a better life through technology is creeping into their world and i felt a bad for what is one of the few remaining cultures that exist more in tune with nature then the rest of us

the thing that affects me is the fear of loss and failure to remember; it was a concern of jane jacobs - the problem of forgetting what we have forgotten - an obliteration from our consciousness that something else actually existed

it reminds me of a scene from the movie 'knocked up' where two of the characters were quoting lines from 'back to the future' while the two women at the table had these big looks of 'huh?' on their faces; it made me scared to think that a reference to movies from the 80s are no longer relevant to people in their 20s

it seems that the younger generation spends more time focusing on the present and the gizmos of the present rather than learning about the past or even having a sense of curiosity of the past which constitutes the cultural memory of their parents/aunts/uncles/teachers

it may be the same old complaint but this text messaging/ipod/virtual world generation is losing touch with the real world with it rich texture and timelines

when the spice girls reunion is a big thing i have to wonder....