What the White Race May Learn from the IndianJames, George Wharton
Religion
What the White Race May Learn from the Indian
James, George Wharton
Indians of North America
Another time, as recorded in my Canyon book, I was caught in a
marble trap with Wa-lu-tha-ma, where it seemed impossible that we
could ever escape. The Indian’s calmness was almost too much. He
was almost as resigned as a Mahommedan who believes in Fate. Yet,
though I remonstrated with him for his despairing attitude so that
we eventually got out, I believe I would rather have that bravery of
despair which dares to face death without complaining or whimpering,
than the fault-finding, “Why did you bring me into such dangers?” or
“Shall I ever get out of this horrible place?” that some white men
indulge in.
[Illustration: WALUTHAMA, MY HAVASUPAI GUIDE.]
When, on the Salton trip, we came to the beginning of the most
dangerous part where I had been told we should go “fifty miles in fifty
minutes,” and there were many rapids which would dash our boats to
pieces, and where undermined cliffs, forty, fifty, and more feet high,
were likely to be suddenly precipitated into the river, and might fall
upon us and our boats and send us to instant destruction; when I told
my Indian of these dangers he calmly looked me in the eye and answered
my question, “You afraid to go, Jim?” with a counter question: “You
afraid?” And when I said “No,” and answered his further “You swim?”
with a “Yes!” he immediately replied; “All right, I go.”
Of course I do not wish for one moment to suggest that this virtue of
courage is not the white man’s. For love of home and country white men
will go to death with a smile on their lips. But in work which the
world does not see, where men are simply paid two dollars a day wages,
to face danger and possible death as a matter of course, this I have
found rare with the white man, and very common with an Indian. The
facing of danger and death is part of their every-day life. It calls
for the exercise of no special virtues. Strong in body, daring in mind,
fearless in soul, duty must be done and done unhesitatingly, regardless
of whether danger or death are lurking near. I am free to confess this
large bold faith in life and the Supreme pleases me. The man who is
always seeking to guard his own life, who refuses to run any risks,
who never goes except where all is safe, may be a more comfortable man
to live with, but as for me, I prefer the spirit of the man who dares
and trusts; the man who does the unsafe things because it is his duty
to do them, and who faces death and thinks nothing of it. The man who
is prodigal of his strength and courage and faith is the man who saves
them. The man who is constantly watchful lest he overdo, who refuses to
run any risks, who would rather run away than dare, is the one who, in
the end, will be found short in manhood and worthy accomplishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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