the way i don't see

before i forget what i learnt, i want to share with you a couple differences i noted between western thinking and the way aboriginal people think. 

the way we look

if someone would talk about the view then i look out to the horizon, as far as i can see.  when an aboriginee would look at the same place they'll look at the actual land in front of them, the form the land takes and the different markings. 

i would love to try to see through their eyes.  instead of watching their eyes.

the way we think
like the land we are always looking out to the future, to what is going to happen later, where as aboriginals seem to be interested in what was happening around them now, and what had happened before them.



the kids were amazing.  much less spoilt than most western kids, i think maybe they had less attention.  when they'd have a bad fall they'd laugh instead of cry. 

when we drove around with 15 or so kids in one car, they'd get excited and point out things in the land.  instead of being excited about macdonalds, it was a honey tree they'd shout about.  or my favourite, the water snake.  it took me some time to realise a water snake was a stream flowing from a hill.

and their stories were amazing, they'd see ghosts everywhere, i couldn't walk by certain places because there would be a man i couldn't see standing on the corner.




















 what's mine is mine


one aboriginal said: the land doesn't belong to them, they belong to the land.