The Original Affluent Americans

Reading The World Turned Upside Down  takes us out of the modern world and allows us a view of the changing world, before the "discovery" of North America. A phrase that really stuck with me from the introduction was 'Indians as the original affluent Americans,' and as a result I have been thinking about our society's reliance on the value of what we own, and how often times an endeavor is only worth participating in if we somehow are making a profit from it. Taking a simplistic approach to life is a foreign concept to most Americans, many forgetting that being rich in resources, having knowledge of primitive skills, and understanding nature (human nature included!) can fulfill more for us than we could ever dream of. Native Americans had culturally rich communities that were only depleted when the white man staked claim on already owned land, but how were they to protect themselves. With the Europeans came new materials and a whirlwind of change, in all aspects of life. Overwhelming indigenous lifestyles, Europeans merely clumped Indians together and forced them to surrender to the new, 'expected' way of life.