My previous post on Climate Vigilantes got me to thinking about Albert Camus. And my father-in-law Busimanolotome Osceola, founder of the New Seminole (NS). But back then before I got hitched to Nokosee in a swamp wedding, if you read my books, you know his dad didn't like me much (to say the least). From the start he didn't like the fact that his only son, the "First of the New Seminole," had fallen for a "leetle white girl"-- which was weird since the Great Chief's wife was a Cuban girl from Hialeah-- unless it had nothing to do with bloodline, ie, he just didn't like me. Ha! Of course, maybe some of his dislike for me was brought on by me since I have a problem with being told what to do and how to do it. I also had a habit of making my thoughts known in heated discussions around the ol' campfire about "The Cause" of the NS and how it was being implemented. That's why I suspect Busimanolotome threw this old paperback up at me when I was reading a book in a gumbo limbo tree.
Busimanolotome Osceola's book. "Catch, girly-girl!"
"What the fu--!" I jumped, never having heard him creeping up on me which I'm sure he loved.
He threw the book up at me and thankfully I caught it-- if I had missed, I'm sure it would have given him one more reason to think I was unworthy of his precious son.
"Read it. You might learn something about--" and this is where he adds air quotes-- "The Cause."
And then he turns and marches off into the swamp. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.
"Hey, I'm pregnant, you know! You could have made me fall out of the tree!"
He slowly shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like "Oh, lord" but it could have been something in Muskogee before he told me without turning around to "Read it, leetle girl. They'll be a test next time around the campfire."
The raggedy old book was called The Rebel by Albert Camus. It looked like Busimanolotome had been reading it since it was first published in 1951. The brown and water stained paper was dogeared on nearly every page with notes filling the margins. I looked up from the book at the man disappearing in the hammock, his Seminole jacket the only thing giving away his presence, and thought, "Man, this guy really is a 'riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma'."
And then I read the book because the last thing I wanted was to look bad around the ol' campfire. And, although I'm pretty sure the great French philosopher wouldn't have agreed with the NS tactics used to achieve "The Cause," it was then and is now reassuring that rebelling against a status quo that endangers Gaia has the approval of a Nobel Prize winner.
"What the fu--!" I jumped, never having heard him creeping up on me which I'm sure he loved.
He threw the book up at me and thankfully I caught it-- if I had missed, I'm sure it would have given him one more reason to think I was unworthy of his precious son.
"Read it. You might learn something about--" and this is where he adds air quotes-- "The Cause."
And then he turns and marches off into the swamp. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.
"Hey, I'm pregnant, you know! You could have made me fall out of the tree!"
He slowly shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like "Oh, lord" but it could have been something in Muskogee before he told me without turning around to "Read it, leetle girl. They'll be a test next time around the campfire."
The raggedy old book was called The Rebel by Albert Camus. It looked like Busimanolotome had been reading it since it was first published in 1951. The brown and water stained paper was dogeared on nearly every page with notes filling the margins. I looked up from the book at the man disappearing in the hammock, his Seminole jacket the only thing giving away his presence, and thought, "Man, this guy really is a 'riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma'."
And then I read the book because the last thing I wanted was to look bad around the ol' campfire. And, although I'm pretty sure the great French philosopher wouldn't have agreed with the NS tactics used to achieve "The Cause," it was then and is now reassuring that rebelling against a status quo that endangers Gaia has the approval of a Nobel Prize winner.
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