Stealing Home :: Essays Papers

Stealing Home Can you imagine living somewhere all your life, and then having a stranger tell you to move? What about having you home taken away from you because you live differently then others? Or even yet, can you imagine having someone move in next door to you, and you die from a sickness that they brought with them? Native Americans have lived this way since the days of Christopher Columbus. As they were shuffled around and pushed westward, the crowd followed, until there was nothing left for them. American Indians roamed the lands of America long before settlers from Europe even dared to travel across the oceans. They lived from and with nature, respecting the laws of life, and cherishing every aspect of their civilization. They hunted and fished, using each part of their prey, wasting nothing. Bones were used for weapons; hides, for clothing and shelter. They lived simply. It was impossible to tell that their worlds would be turned upside down. When settlers first arrived in America, they were greeted by Native Americans. They helped the settlers learn to live the way they did – to use nature to its fullest and to respect it. Meanwhile, millions of Indians were dying from the diseases brought over from Europe. Indian villages were burned to stop the spread of disease. The settlers were scared of these diseases that no one seemed to understand. They blamed the Native Americans for deaths of settlers that were due to the diseases. This blind blame would be seen later in history, as the railroad invaded the territory of the Native Americans, and they were again blamed for death and warfare. Between the beginning of the Civil War and the Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of emigrants had been crossing the plains in search of gold. The Indians of the North-west generally accepted the government policy that the land west of the Mississippi River was theirs, and they expected settlers to stay out. Of course, the pioneers needed to cross that territory, which the Native Americans considered sacred hunting grounds (Schmitt 2). The Native Americans first learned of the railroads by runners – those who ran the land to learn of gold seekers and settlers moving across the territory. They called the railroad the "iron horse on the iron track," and as it moved across the Mississippi, it was evident to them that once again, their land would be taken (Schmitt 6-7).

Compositions Essay

My parents took me to Chidambaram on the occasion of the festival for Lord Nataraja. That festival occurs once in a year. The crowd was huge. It had come from all parts of India, and, in some cases, even from outside India. The crowd consisted of people from various states in India. It therefore, consisted of people from different walks of life. We saw people from Northern states of India, like, Uttar Pradesh, Rajastan, Delhi and many more. We also saw crowds from Great Britain and The United States of America. We found people talking in different languages. Some of the people found it difficult to make the local people of Chidambaram understand what they meant. So, they needed interpreters. As mentioned earlier, the crowd was not only huge, but consisted of citizens of various status and from various states. Some leader was delivering a speech. He did not belong to Tamil Nadu. Sometimes he would speak in broken language and then switch over to different language, which i too could not follow. The crowd was in no better position. So, there was commotion in the crowd because it could not understand what the speaker was talking about. When the crowd became restive, someone came on to the dias to do interpretation, but that did not also satisfy the crowd. Therefore, the speaker finished his speech and some one else came up the dias to deliver the speech. But, he too did not understand the local language well and there was a confusion again. This time the crowd became very restive and could not be controlled by the cops. When the situation appeared to be going out of control, the cops interfered and used water guns to disperse the crowd. When that too did not give the desired result, the cops naturally resorted to using bullets. The first fired in the air to terify the people. But, that did not yield the desired result. So they sprayed the crowd with actual bullets. This made the crowd retreat and some calm appeared to have descended on the crowd. So, this was a meeting which was well attended. But, it was attended by people from various states speaking different languages and having different life cultures. The speakers also did not do anything to pacify the crowd. As i said earlier, the crowd came from different states and spoke different languages, they could not understand what the speakers spoke, nor could others understand what they spoke.

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