So I had the decency to watch Disney's Pocahontas the other day. I realized I had never really seen it. In my childhood, instead of movies, we had these tapes and little books with pictures about the (significantly abridged) stories and there would always be this jingle when it was time to turn the page. So I never saw Pocahontas the movie growing up - I only listened to the tape and turned the pages. (This is also the only way I've ever heard the story of The Lion King. Shame on me.)
To my merit, I have now corrected the terrible and shameful thing and watched the unabridged movie version with extra dialogue and songs and other important things. At first glance, the story is very anti-capitalist: cutting down trees is morally wrong and the desire for gold is the root of all evil. I'd like to think the movie should instead be interpreted in a libertarian way: you don't have the right to go into someone else's home and start moving around the furniture. However, as much as I'd like to talk about this subject, I shall not. There's a quote, you see. A quote by the tree-grandmother-thingy. Somehow that seems to speak louder to me than the whole libertarian view.
All around you are spirits, child. They live in the earth, the water, the sky. If you listen, they will guide you.
I know this sounds like some new age hippie bullcrap - and in a way, it totally is - but that doesn't mean the quote cannot speak to you, or awaken thoughts or emotions within the hearer. I'm sure my younger capitalist self would laugh incredulously at me if she knew I would be standing at the back yard in December 2019, in the pitch black night, looking down into the valley and listening to the wind.
But hey, we never know how our minds will develop in the future. Who knows what will feel natural next year, or ten years from now. Hell, I don't even know what my mood will be tomorrow yet.
I'm not saying the wind will speak to you. But I guess there's no downside to listening to it. Even if it never said a word, the sound it makes is truly and divinely magnificent.
RK
