[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Mistah Bertz, he dead.

On this vast and mysterious planet, what we know is rivaled only by what we don't know. Every time a discovery is made, and a question is safely settled and put to rest, from the dark shadows of confusion and inquiry leaps yet another puzzle or riddle in search of an answer.

Such is it human. We are explorers. It's what we do.

However, over the past week, a lot has been made of the tribe of orange people living in the dark heart of the Amazon.

At first, it was suggested that they were "uncontacted," and clearly the only interaction they had with those from more developed corners of the world was when, from above in their noisy flying dragons with cameras clicking, city folk would buzz the simple, orange tribefolk and send them scurrying to work out any number of neurotic fears in the witchdoctor's hut for months on end.

Nonetheless, lately it's come out that this isn't entirely true, and the existence of that particular tribe has been known for quite some time.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I recently grabbed my camera, booked a flight out of Brazilia, and flew headlong into the vast and lethal Amazon to see if I could find this tribe to determine whether or not contact with the civilized world had any effect on them.

And, here is what I found:

We flew in low to get this shot, and, as you can see, the simple tribesman here seems to be sending a message of sorts. I'm unsure what it could be, and I'll let the anthropologists debate it for years to come.

Perhaps they were trying to appease us, their flying, camera-toting gods above with a simple offering of Bert's heart and head?

However, as can be seen by this villager's proud clutching of the still-beating heart and countenance of glee, these are a people who must be approached with caution since it's clear they see death as a gift to those they worship.

In the end, we may never truly know these simple people, and perhaps, it may be best to leave them alone to enjoy their lives as they are. They don't need us.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 6/24/2008 10:38:00 AM