Someone telling you, ‘I’m too good for you,’ is the equivalent of saying, ‘my sense of self is so incredibly inflated that there simply isn’t enough room for the two of us on this spaceship I’ve built solely from the energy emitted from my intolerable arrogance, which I’ll be flying to the center of the sun, where I plan to establish the dominion of my lordship and finally achieve my dream of becoming the center of the solar system.’ So, in other words, you’re better off.
-me, during a skype call with a recently dumped friend.
So, you're a nomad, are you? And you'd like to know where you fall. Or maybe you've never really thought about it, how this form of living began in the first place. Well, you're in luck because I've done the work for you. There are, generally, three classifications of nomads: hunter-gatherers, pastoral, and peripatetic. Though these groups have been applied throughout history with a connotation of less-civilized means of subsisting and aren't normally attributed to substantial populations within industrialized cultures, they still exist in their essence and if you travel consistently, then you likely fall into one of these groups.
HUNTER-GATHERERS
Origin and Historical Denotation: Historically, the hunter-gatherer is the oldest form of nomadic culture known to the modern man. As the name suggests, this class of the nomad based its livelihood on following resources as they became accessible. They moved from site to site, pursuing game and seasonal vegetation. Ancestrally, this was the mode of subsistence for all modern humans up until around 10,000 years ago.
Modern Application: Extrapolating this idea into our modern world will find that there are many members of the industrialized world that still follow this method of maintaining a livelihood. From traveling construction workers to the burgeoning occupation of ESL (English as a Second Language) instructors, there still exists a notably-sized population of individuals who subscribe to the nomadic lifestyle, hunting and gathering employment opportunities and their means of subsistence.
PASTORALISM
Origin and Historical Denotation: Traditionally, pastoral nomads moved between pastures, feeding their flocks and enhanced by the development of secondary products from their animals. Among the many advantageous reasons behind this type of nomadic culture were elevated trade opportunities and a primitive understanding of the problem of over-grazing.
Modern Application: Though this is the smallest of nomadic classes to survive mass industrialization, there still exists a form of pastoralism in our modern world, interestingly enough. In Western North America, many cattle ranchers still endorse the ideas of their historical counterparts, disagreeing with the "farm and fence" methods of their competition. And though they are not subsistence pastoralists, they are business men and their occupations depend on their form of pastoralism.
PERIPATETIC
Origin and Historical Denotation: Peripatetic nomads are the newest form of travelling cultures to have arisen in contemporary societies, having first gained a foothold in classical antiquity. This definition is attributed to migrating populations engaged in craft and trade based commerce, often consisting of multilingual populations, speaking one or more languages of the local sedentary populations and travel often takes place with the legislative boundaries of a single territory.
Modern Application: Today, the most apparent individuals who are members of this group have carried on the historical traditions of this culture by offering their respective crafts throughout the country and other parts of the world. Among these include visual artists, musical artists, as well as backpack journalists.
Nomadic cultures and travel have long been a cornerstone of our contemporary societies and have managed to stay weaved in the fabric of our culture for thousands of years. So, whether it be an elective style of life, or a matter of necessity, we ought to enjoy the wonderful gifts our ancestors have planted throughout history and continue to cultivate its positive impact throughout the world. Because the world isn't as scary and lonely as you think.
One of my favorite things I've had the pleasure of seeing first-hand.
“Italian cities have long been held up as ideals, not least by New Yorkers and Londoners enthralled by the ways their architecture gives beauty and meaning to everyday acts.”
Empathy (n): the capacity for understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.
One thing that has been occupying the majority of my thoughts lately (and a large factor in my decision to simply "get up and go") is the evidence of a severe disparity in our ability to empathize in this individualist culture we've fallen into--and gladly remained in--for sometime now and the world we've created for ourselves. This idea that it's everyone for themselves and that if it doesn't directly affect you, it doesn't affect you at all, and is therefore unworthy of your time or energy.
The disparity that I'm referring to is the fact that we willfully live in a society: one of the most advanced societies on this planet. And with society comes a fundamental underpinning that requires us to split our resources and divide our labor (time, knowledge, et al) for greater efficiency in the progress and improvement of the whole. And in order to achieve said goal implores an understanding of each of its parts equally and every possible effort to accommodate them.
But people are not microscopic organisms and we cannot even begin to understand them through a lens: a lens of legislation or a lens of statistics or a lens of YouTube videos shot during a late-night subway ride. We must walk where they walk, see what they see, eat what they eat, and live where they live if we aim to feel what they feel. And only when we feel what they feel, genuinely, can we begin to shed a bit of light into the dark of our unanswered questions and hope that our answers will begin to dig away at the mountains of our ignorance.
There need not be any incongruity in our beloved freedom and the establishment of a culture that accommodates and considers the needs of everyone equally. Your humanity dictates charity, despite the letter of your respective law, and the intrinsic characteristic of empathy that inspires compassion should be treasured and exercised with great intent. This very thing that distinguishes you from the other members of your biological kingdom is one to hold the most dear. You cannot begin to fix any problem until you understand it. And you'll never understand it, unless you exist within its confines.
Anytime I’m on the road, I always seem to slip into bouts of insomnia and it’s something I’ve never quite understood. I’ve never been the type to have any real connection with “home,” other than where I place my head that night. I was an army brat. That’s why. No, not really, but I suppose it’s possible that may be part of it.
From the time I can remember, I’ve never had the answer for the question, “where are you from?” Well, I was born in Houston, TX but my mother is from St. Lucia, in the West Indies. But that’s not where I’m from, though I do identify mostly with that part of my heritage. Still, I’ve never been the type that necessitates a place to put down roots.
And yet still, every time I stay away from “home” (read: the last place I payed rent), sleep seems to allude me and there is always something that seems more valuable, more worthwhile, than closing my eyes for a few hours. A few hours ago, while Googling this, as I do with everything now that my childhood encyclopedias are outdated and severely lacking in comprehensive knowledge, I found that there is a term for this: travel insomnia. I have all of the symptoms of general short-term insomnia, but none of the reasons seem to apply to me. I take a sort of twisted, idiosyncratic sense of pride in my nomadic spirit but the insomnia can be a bit overwhelming at times.
And not knowing its source, well that’s another degree of discomforting.
baratheonpilled
blakekathryn