ThirstyFish

New York City is an "anguish terrarium" for many who live here - whether they know it or not. Why do I think so? Consider the words of John Fire Lame Deer, a Lakota holy man:

• Before our white brothers came to civilize us we had no jails. Therefore we had no criminals. You can't have criminals without a jail. We had no locks or keys, and so we had no thieves. If a man was so poor that he had no horse, tipi or blanket, someone gave him these things. We were too uncivilized to set much value on personal belongings. We wanted to have things only in order to give them away. We had no money, and therefore a man's worth couldn't be measured by it. We had no written law, no attorneys or politicians, therefore we couldn't cheat. We really were in a bad way before the white man came, and I don't know how we managed to get along without the basic things which, we are told, are absolutely necessary to make a civilized society.
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• -- "Lame Deer. Seeker of Visions" by John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes. 1994.