A Smile In Sadness

I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to

depend simply upon himself.  Shooter ~ Teton Sioux

It stands to reason that if we stepped back a thousand years into the history of North American; possibly the year 1015 AD; there would be a virtually untouched multitude of people.  The wild and Nomadic tribes of the North American Indian.  Important here is that we understand that "wild" is NOT synonymous with "un-kept".  For in truth it is just as Henry David Thoreau said, "Some are dinning in our ears that we are Americans, and moderns generally, are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients".  It is these Ancients which we would see and feel, and these Ancients which would trace their own lineage through multiplied thousands of years.   

The lives of the North American Indian, who's artifacts are still found throughout the land, were mobile and mercurial by Nature and by necessity.  The Indians nomadic natural was a compliment to their original Design.  Which is so important to remember in looking at the complete plan for mankind here upon the earth.  

Moving forward... If by chance in 1015 AD there had been no subsequent European influence, conquest or injection of pandemic disease... If the current settlement of these United States, as we understand them to be, never happened in the following centuries after 1015 AD, the life of the North American Indian might well today be relatively unchanged.  We immediately think of this as something negative... for we are "moderns".  However, there is virtue to the contributions of every decent race of man.  

Moving forward this produces one deeply moral and ethical question that needs consideration:  Would it have been better for the world... better for humanity... if the North American Indian was never contacted? 

No. It is one of the saddest answers I might ever consider when one understands the history of the North American Indian after European contact.  Inevitability is a force effecting all of us.  As has been the influence and contact of selfishness, greed and hatred.  With these kindness and decency have readily been placed aside.  I will end this easily for those who have ears to hear... there is hope and He meant what He said when He visited mankind.  He guides me daily with a smile in sadness.