Everyday is a Good Day: Chapter 3

Culture defines a lot to many as individuals. This chapter titled Context is Everything explains what the indigenous culture really is and how much it really means to the native people. Many of us do not realize or know the lifestyles of indigenous people therefore we are drawn to what the media portrays them and stereotype them in a number of ways that are totally unlike what really an indigenous person really is. Therefore it leads to these natives not having an identity except that one that the Euro-Americans created. We forget that before the settlers arrived there was people and we only credit the white man for the great things he did to this land. Indigenous people were the original people and were not credited at all they were not even taken into consideration. They are the ones that had/have that experience of having a sense of identity/belonging to their native land unlike the white settler that only wanted land and restricted these natives for selfish reasons. One thing that grabbed my attention as I was reading about the personal stories was that of Wilma Mankiller. The part were her childhood was full of great memories being free in her village, hearing stories and playing games and how it all changed with in a blink of an eye. She ended up moving to San. Francisco in which life was a total difference as she described it "it was like landing on Mars."(Mankiller, 56) It really opened my eyes in a way that I was able to relate. These natives are not recognized and are basically forced to leave their culture behind, yet they are the ones that are mostly attached to it. They view life in a way that they don't mind the weather and believe that what the earth gives is a blessing whether we believe its not.