"There is one trait in Indian character which civilized society would derive much profit by imitating. Envy is a quality unknown to the savages. When a warrior has performed any deed of daring, his merit is freely accorded by his associate braves; his deeds are extolled in every public and private reunion, and his name is an incentive to generous emulation. I never witnessed any envious attempt to derogate from the merit of a brave 's achievement. No damning with faint praise; none 'willing to wound and yet afraid to strike '; no faltering innuendos that the man has not accomplished so much, after all . The same way with the women. When a woman's husband has distinguished himself, her neighbors, one and all, take pride in rejoicing with her over her happiness. If a woman displays more ingenuity than common in ornamenting her husband's war-dress, or in adding any fancy work to her own habiliments, she at once becomes the pattern of the neighborhood. You see no flaws picked in her character because of her rising to note; no aspersions cast upon her birth or present standing. Such and such is her merit and it is deserving of our praise; the fact is praised and it receives full acknowledgement. This leads to the natural conclusion that civilization, in introducing the ostentation of display which is too frequently affected without sufficient ground to stand upon, warps the mind from the charity that is natural to it, and leads to all the petty strifes, and scandalous tales, and heartburnings that embitter the lives of so many in civilized life."
P.161-162, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES P BECKWOURTH (as told to Thomas D. Bonner) (1856, 1981)
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Tuesday, February 20, 2018
ENVY AND CHARACTER
"There is one trait in Indian character which civilized society would derive much profit by imitating. Envy is a quality unknown to the savages. When a warrior has performed any deed of daring, his merit is freely accorded by his associate braves; his deeds are extolled in every public and private reunion, and his name is an incentive to generous emulation. I never witnessed any envious attempt to derogate from the merit of a brave 's achievement. No damning with faint praise; none 'willing to wound and yet afraid to strike '; no faltering innuendos that the man has not accomplished so much, after all . The same way with the women. When a woman's husband has distinguished himself, her neighbors, one and all, take pride in rejoicing with her over her happiness. If a woman displays more ingenuity than common in ornamenting her husband's war-dress, or in adding any fancy work to her own habiliments, she at once becomes the pattern of the neighborhood. You see no flaws picked in her character because of her rising to note; no aspersions cast upon her birth or present standing. Such and such is her merit and it is deserving of our praise; the fact is praised and it receives full acknowledgement. This leads to the natural conclusion that civilization, in introducing the ostentation of display which is too frequently affected without sufficient ground to stand upon, warps the mind from the charity that is natural to it, and leads to all the petty strifes, and scandalous tales, and heartburnings that embitter the lives of so many in civilized life."
P.161-162, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES P BECKWOURTH (as told to Thomas D. Bonner) (1856, 1981)
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