Masai Tribesmen
This isnt really an idea or a theory ... Its something I learnt recently and found quite incredible.
Africa has always been the continent with the most allure to me. Maybe its because my mother told me as a child that the sky was bluest in Africa. Its always been my dream to go on a safari and lie on the back of a jeep at night and watch the night sky in all its glory, unaffected by all of the artificial light we use ...
Anyway, I was watching the movie - "Out of Africa" starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Redford plays the role of an American hunter in the movie - He has an assistant who also happens to be a Masai tribesman. The Masai are some of the fiercest warriors in Africa. In fact, Masai men were allowed to marry only if they could prove that they had killed a lion (This practice has been stopped due to the dwindling lion population).
In one particular scene in the movie, Redford tells Meryl Streep about the Masai ... And he says that when a masai tribesman is put in an enclosed jail cell, he dies almost immediately.
This is because they have no concept of "future" - They live absolutely in the present. They see themselves locked up with no freedom to move and their life is no longer worth living.
It doesnt help even if they are told that they will be released in a week - Because for them the present is all that counts and the fact that the future could be different from the present is too abstract of an concept for them.
When they are hungry, they hunt. They dont think of the next day's meal ...
How blissful such an existence would be. Especially for me, with my MS Excel plan for the next forty years !
Africa has always been the continent with the most allure to me. Maybe its because my mother told me as a child that the sky was bluest in Africa. Its always been my dream to go on a safari and lie on the back of a jeep at night and watch the night sky in all its glory, unaffected by all of the artificial light we use ...
Anyway, I was watching the movie - "Out of Africa" starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Redford plays the role of an American hunter in the movie - He has an assistant who also happens to be a Masai tribesman. The Masai are some of the fiercest warriors in Africa. In fact, Masai men were allowed to marry only if they could prove that they had killed a lion (This practice has been stopped due to the dwindling lion population).
In one particular scene in the movie, Redford tells Meryl Streep about the Masai ... And he says that when a masai tribesman is put in an enclosed jail cell, he dies almost immediately.
This is because they have no concept of "future" - They live absolutely in the present. They see themselves locked up with no freedom to move and their life is no longer worth living.
It doesnt help even if they are told that they will be released in a week - Because for them the present is all that counts and the fact that the future could be different from the present is too abstract of an concept for them.
When they are hungry, they hunt. They dont think of the next day's meal ...
How blissful such an existence would be. Especially for me, with my MS Excel plan for the next forty years !
Comments