By Giriak
Yesterday the Sami Reindeer Herders brought a herd across the frozen lake near my home. We had seen them off and on with their snow-scooters probing routes across the lake, for the lake has been piled with heavy snow this past winter (2007) due to global warming (which has also made the ordinary forest life of the reindeer herds unusually difficult, for they could not get food and the herders had to resort to early slaughter plus hand-feeding in big corals). As the herd was crossing, they were struggling and working hard. The dogs that help control the herd were also struggling in the deep, mushy snow. The herders themselves were performing impossible maneuvers on their snow-scooters where an ordinary recreational snow-scooter could easily get stuck out there. For the Sami, the reindeer are wealth in a way of life that has been going on for hundreds of years. They do not tell each other, for instance, how many reindeer they have in their herds, for that would be like telling each other how much money they have in their bank accounts. But with global warming added to other modern problems, the Sami reindeer herding business is suffering. It is a dying way of life and the reindeer does not mean wealth to the Sami as it once did. So, what ultimately is true wealth? For those who like clean air and water without city noise and human psychic pollution of unhealthy and neurotic people, living in a remote home in a place of great and beautiful space in Nature where one can encounter still wild animals is indeed true wealth. A few days ago we had a cow moose (älg) and her calf hanging out in our yard. Also, a few days ago we had a hungry and growling bear prowling around nearby who had smelled our cooking. Privacy and Nature are indeed true wealth. To live in ignorance is mental poverty, but to have access to the Internet along with having many great books on great subjects is also mental true wealth. And when one can study and meditate in a natural, quiet place, it leads to greater heights of insight, intuition and awareness. These things are spiritual true wealth. Recent pictures of my reindeer that I actually own.
|
