There are few words spoken on a daily basis that hit me in the way of forcing their presence beyond the surface of my skin, the act of shattering the walls designed to protect the core of a soul—cuss words “not” being one of them.
Embarrassingly, being from Montana with its ample acreage of free roaming cattle, sheep and chickens, hay bail stackers and hourly weed pickers were gifted with permission to lay out a few lines due to the indifferences with parental human figures who constantly felt a need to latch onto the naps of our necks and throw us into a world of lumber cleaning and hen house mending.
Wait! Let’s get one thing straight…I didn’t curse I cussed. There’s a huge difference; cussing is the letting go of steam and energy, often times putting words and thoughts together that would send Grammar check into a coma. Cursing is when you take angered words and use them as weapons of mass destruction. A great lesson taught by Native American elders is based on being aware of who you curse because in order to deliver it properly you must physically understand what and how you cursed, so you must live it before delivering it.
Cussing is like spitting…
I’ll never forget learning how to shoot juice between my teeth. We’d stand on the winter weather damaged concrete steps at stepfather Joe’s house aiming for anything that moved. We were boys and boys tend to bend the rules so everything from garbage flies to sparrows, chipmunks and rusted beer cans were instantly dubbed spit targets.
Once you adopt the plan to let what’s inside fly; it becomes too easy for the next set of outward pourings to pickup speed and dine in the afternoon breeze.
That doesn’t mean all adjectives, adverbs, nouns and nicknames are accepted in the ego driven waves that make up the shade to which Arroe hides. Walk into the radio station studio and say, “Bang this out…” Like clockwork the Northern Lights will quickly become an unexpected feature in the Southern regions of your modern day reality. Make sure you follow it with, “Radio is a gig.”
It’s like cutting into a chunk of meat and the fork and knife slip scratching a seriously loud screech into the plate. Taking your fingernails and grinding them deeply into a chalkboard or your television set is locked onto an infomercial dealing with bowels and you can’t find the remote control.
Another word that instantly stops me in my tracks is Tribe.
Thanks to Seth Godin’s book Tribes: We need you to lead us…the Social Networking hot word of the moment has computer Geeks, Tweets, Face Bookers, business leaders and visionaries tossing this word out like Apple reinvents IPads and IPhones.
Using the word Tribe is no different than hanging a Dream Catcher from the rearview mirror. Honestly…do you understand what you’re displaying? It purifies dreams is a candy coated way of saying, “I’ve come across this new fad.”
Being completely uncomfortable with the current use of Tribe is my problem. I now understand why Grandma Dobrenz and Bakken reached for the leather belt or long green switch from a nearby tree when using the Lords name in vain. Their gig was to bang out a few proper thoughts into my backside.
I’ve looked the word up a hundred times and in every book and website the full description of tribe is exactly what its being used for:
Any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leader.
A local division of an aboriginal people.
A division of some other people
A class or type of animal, plant or article.
My friend Al grew up in Costa Rica dreaming of one day coming to the states to make it big—upon his arrival in the late 90’s his most difficult task had nothing to do with adopting to our food but instead our vocal culture, he didn’t understand why the English language has several meanings for the same word.
If high school and professional sports teams have been forced to present their mascots and names inside the limits of what is and isn’t politically correct—how does tribe make it past airport security?
During the period that followed the Civil War the United States military made its way out west to battle the original people of this great land—during the 1860’s it became illegal for Native American’s to live in the state of Colorado. They were called Tribes and were looked upon as being trespassers and outlaws. They were a nation of people called Crow, Apache, Arapaho, Cherokee, Catawba, Waxhaw, literally hundreds of bands from a nation of survivors. The term tribe was used to belittle a great people.
In Seth Gobin’s book he writes, “Tribes need leadership. Sometimes one person leads, sometimes more. People want connection and growth and something new. They want change. You can’t have a tribe without a leader and you can’t be a leader without a tribe.”
When using the word Tribe…which description does Gobin’s Tribe fall under?
Any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leader.
A local division of an aboriginal people.
A division of some other people
A class or type of animal, plant or article.
Wait! The 7th description on dictionary.com allows Seth to properly use the word: A company, group or number of persons. Leave it to the crazy American's to settle for 7th best.
Seth calls the Grateful Dead one of the most successful Tribes in American history—not only did they earn over $100 million in record sales but Jerry Garcia attracted and lead a people that continue to remain solid in his absence. Watch a mountain of love invite spring rains and sunshine to your challenging times when you whisper 2-14-70 into the sights and sounds of another Dead head.
And so, this band of the Social Network Nation has elected to spin away from the fires heated by the elders who shaped our places of growth—it’s roots I wish to carry and in honor of the Nations before us, this band of travelers shall build large circles to create necessary energy to grow but never in the eyes of the Great Creator shall the term and or word Tribe be used when describing what it is we have and shall accomplish.
And should Seth Gobin find this on his page one day he shall not fight or retaliate because in the spirit of his openness, what we have shaped today is a Nation not a tribe that honors our ancestors by way of recognizing them as the leaders they were so that we may lead today toward the horizon called tomorrow.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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