how can one sell the air?

When Dan went to live on the other side of the world, he left behind a box of books.  I say box - it’s about the size of a tea-chest and weighs a ton.  It’s one of those really useful boxes with clear sides and I was surprised to see the cover of this book through the plastic.

I’m surprised because (i) the book is mine and not his and (ii) I’d forgotten when and where I’d bought it.  And why.

I’d scribbled my name and a date inside - 1986.  So that’s the ‘when’ but still no idea the ‘why’.  But it clearly made an impression on me.

In 1855 the government of the United States sent a message to Chief Seattle of the Duwamish people in the western part of the USA, stating their intention to buy the land occupied by the native peoples.  This book contains what purports to be his reply.

When he says “how can one sell the air?” he means how can they sell their land and their rivers and all that is on them, when they doesn’t actually own them?  To him and his people, ownership of the environment was an alien concept.  He goes on; “we know that the White Man does not understand our way of life…. the earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on ….”

Some doubt the authenticity of this manifesto, arguing that content had been added at a later time by ‘environmentalists’.  I’m sure some of my American blip-friends will put me right.

Whatever the facts of the matter are, Chief Seattle was a real person and highly regarded by white settlers at the time.  They even named their nearby town after him.