“When are the Mexamamo scheduled to arrive?” Rick asked John.
“Not until late morning. Things will pick up from there.”
Just as John had predicted, several hours later, a Mexamamo messenger entered the village to announce that the visitors were nearby and would arrive in a half hour. What a sight they were! With beaming smiles, they played stringed instruments as they walked through the village, cheering all who heard them. Mexamamo children ran forward carrying small baskets full of fruits and vegetables, which they presented as gifts to the Euromamo crowd. The adults trailed behind them, carrying larger baskets of food. Outside the communal dining room, Euromamo musicians answered with their own tunes, on similar instruments, in light-hearted response. It was all very charming and portended a fun visit.
As the Leader stepped forward to greet the leader of the Mexamamo, John whispered quietly to Rick, “His title is ‘the Hay Fay’.”
Rick wrote it in his notes. The Leader and the Hay Fay shook hands warmly and hugged one another. A Mexamamo moved next to the Hay Fay to translate.
“It’s good to see you again, my friend,” said the Leader. “Let’s go inside where we can talk without the sun hovering over us,” gesturing toward the dining room doorway.
The others, Euromamo and Mexamamo, followed them. The room had ample space to accommodate the crowd. Three doors opened to the patio and the children’s play area. Once everyone was inside and seated, beverages were served. When the Leader rose to speak, the same Mexamamo sat next to the Hay Fay and translated.
“Welcome to our village, Hay Fay and our other Mexamamo friends. It’s a pleasure to see you. We greatly appreciate the gifts of fruits and vegetables that you’ve brought. No one grows them better than you do. We also see that you’ve brought many of your children with you and they will cheer us with their ready laughter and energy. We’ve much news to catch up on, but those discussions can come after we eat. We’ve prepared some of your favorite dishes, as your noses have doubtless told you, so here’s hoping it’s a tasty meal. Let’s eat.”
The meal that the Euromamo cooks had prepared was sumptuous, a delight to the palate. All the while, there was much talking. The Mexamamo children, of whom there were many, sought out Euromamo children to play with. The result was that children were moving everywhere, not only on the patio, but also around the room, between and under the tables, chattering and having fun. Occasionally, they would pop up at the sides of the tables to ask a question or to get some food. They were charming but they made the affair very noisy. The Leader and the Hay Fay sat next to one another on one side of a table. Beside the Hay Fay sat a Mexamamo in a long stately tunic, which was made of fine fiber-plant cloth and had been dyed a rich green. He wore an odd high hat of a type that Rick hadn’t seen before.
“Who’s that?” Rick asked John.
“Pad Ray Altura. He’s their religious leader and is very important in their society.”
“Thanks.”
Rick sat across from the three of them, close enough to hear their conversation. John sat next to him and translated. “The food you brought us looks beautiful,” said the Leader, beginning the conversation. “It seems that your fields are doing very well. Is that right?”
“Yes, our plots are producing well. We’ll be able to trade with you at our customary levels in the coming months.”
“I’m glad to hear that. We value our good relations. For our part, we have some new implements that we think would ease your labor.”
“Our production wouldn’t be possible without your help in improving our implements and maintaining the fertility of our soil,” the Hay Fay said.
He looked down somewhat wistfully.
“We produce a lot of food yet we remain a poor people. It seems that all we know is hard labor, mostly in the fields.”
At that point, a Mexamamo child came up to the Hay Fay and asked him a question. The Hay Fay spoke kindly to him but motioned him toward a group across the room. The child smiled and scampered away. The Leader, sensing that the Hay Fay’s train of thought had been broken, picked up the discussion.
“On a trip some distance away, we acquired two new food plants—a fruit and a vegetable—and have successfully grown them to maturity.”
As she spoke the last sentence, the Leader had to raise her voice so the Hay Fay could hear her over the noise from a new group of children who scurried by close to the table. The Mexamamo leader glanced reprovingly toward them, prompting a Mexamamo woman to tear herself away from the other children she was watching to calm the rowdy ones.
“Hopefully, they’ll remain quiet, at least for a while,” said the Hay Fay with a wistful smile.
“We’ll give you some fruits and vegetables from those plants for you to try while you’re here. If you’re interested, we’ll give you some seeds to take back with you, tell you what we have learned about growing them, and give you some implements to cultivate them. The implements aren’t much different from what you already have, but work slightly better for these plants.”
“Good. I look forward to tasting them,” the Hay Fay mumbled, distracted again momentarily by the children.
“On another issue, we continue to have good birth control and that allows our people—particularly women—to control if and when they become pregnant.”
As soon as this subject was broached, Pad Ray Altura furrowed his brow and leaned forward.
“As you should know, the use of birth control is against our religious beliefs,” he stated firmly. “It’s inconsistent with the gift of life from the Beneficent One. He gives life when He chooses according to His purposes. We should accept His gift with gratitude.”
Rick saw the Leader’s brow furrow as she contemplated her response. She knew it would be a sensitive topic.
“You have so many children that it must be very difficult to pay adequate attention to each of them,” the Leader continued, directing her comments toward the Pad Ray.
“The Beneficent One wraps each of His children in his love, and cares for them in His own way,” responded the Pad Ray.
“That may be the case,” continued the Leader, “but here on Earth, it can be difficult for parents and other adults to rear children if there are too many of them.”
“That’s part of the burden of love that the Beneficent One gives us when He gives us children,” said the Pad Ray.
“Have you considered the effect your large number of children have on your economy?” asked the Leader, turning to the Hay Fay.
“What do you mean?” asked the Hay Fay.
“While children are young, adults must feed them and care for them. While this is true of all societies, when you have more children compared to the number of adults, as you do, child care occupies too many adults who could otherwise be building your economy. It retards your development. If you used birth control, you could control the number of children born, and women could choose if and when they become pregnant.”
The Pad Ray grimaced.
“Our religious leaders over the years have consistently interpreted the teachings of the Beneficent One to prohibit birth control,” said the Pad Ray. “He gave sex as an instrument of reproduction and His blessing of life is fundamental to His plan for us. We must not question this divine truth.”
“The Pad Ray is correct,” chimed in the Hay Fay. “There’s no need to pursue this line of discussion further, dear friend. The teachings of the Beneficent One are clear and established.”
“You could make it up another way,” the Leader added softly, “but that’s another discussion.”
The Pad Ray looked at her querulously.
The Leader steered the conversation from birth control to non-controversial topics. The children continued to be a distraction and created such a ruckus that they became the only possible topic of discussion. No further substantive issues could be addressed. In all, the feasting and the talking went on for about two hours, at the end of which, the Hay Fay rose to thank the Leader and the
other Euromamo for their hospitality. They departed soon thereafter.
Back in his room, as Rick thought about what a fun gathering it had been, Archbishop Witch Doctor Richards stopped by for a visit.
After the initial pleasantries, the Archbishop asked, “What did you think about the visit from the Mexamamo?”
“Upbeat, I thought. They’re a very spirited group,” said Rick.
“Yes. Our meetings with the Mexamamo are always enjoyable. These days, we have a good relationship with them. It was only during our earlier years that there was tension between us. The Mexamamo had an old claim to the southwestern part of our valley but, few of them were living on that land, so we decided to settle it ourselves. One of our greedier moments, I acknowledge in hindsight. Unfortunately, it took a violent war to resolve it.”
“Was it an impetus to adopting the Rules of Warfare and using paint darts?”
“Yes, that war and our big war with the Soumamo a few years later.”
“I’d like to know more about that sometime.”
“Sure. Although we won convincingly, violent wars tend to cause great bloodshed and heartbreak,” he said shaking his head.
“I take it from the discussions today that the Mexamamo provide a lot of your fruits and vegetables,” commented Rick.
“Yes, they work hard and are skilled at growing foods. The area where they live is fertile enough for growing things provided they care for the soil. Some Mexamamo even come to our fields to labor and help us grow our crops.”
“I didn’t know that your relationships with them were so extensive,” commented Rick.
“Yes, there’s quite a lot of contact between us. Their poverty creates issues for us, though. For example, some of them leave their land to live in our territory, mostly in the lands they used to claim. Understandably, the influx of their people increases whenever their economy takes a downturn. and some of us worry about the numbers coming in. Did the question of mushrooms come up?”
“Mushrooms?”
“Yes. The Mexamamo produce more hallucinogenic mushrooms than anyone else in the rain forest.”
“I remember the mushrooms from our visit to the Hedomamo. What effects do the mushrooms have?”
“They produce visual distortions and skew reality, as you could probably tell from their effect on the Hedomamo. We approach them with caution.”
“Do they cause harm?” asked Rick.
“We’re not sure about their effects on the body. We tried to research them in the medical literature from outside society but not much has been written about them. We fear that, with repeated use, they would become addictive and interfere with work. Because we do not fully understand them, we discourage their use by Euromamo.”
“You discourage them but they’re not illegal?”
“That’s correct. If we made them illegal, some people would get them anyway, probably through underground means. As it is, the society maintains a supply of the mushrooms that it makes available to those who want to purchase them, or our people can purchase them directly from the Mexamamo. However, we remain attentive to whether workers’ use of them interferes with their production.”
“You seem to have given quite a lot of thought to this,” commented Rick.
“We’ve thought about it, but there are no easy answers. We drew upon the history of prohibition in your own country for guidance, so the general nature of the problem should be familiar to you.”
“Why would we discuss the sale of the mushrooms with the Mexamamo? Since you haven’t made them illegal in your society, isn’t it their choice whether they grow and sell them, and your choice whether you purchase and use them?”
“You’re basically right, but their sales to us create some problems. I mentioned that we don’t know the medical impact, but beyond that, we have the potential to buy a lot of them because we’re a prosperous society. Some Euromamo, thankfully a small percentage, enjoy the mushrooms so much that they spend more on them than we think is wise. These purchases from the Mexamamo obviously diminish the total wealth of our society and we don’t like that. Those who become addicted are treated like loafers; that is, they receive no support from the group except for food and basic medical care. They lose any status pins they may have earned previously. At least, as a society, we consume only a fraction of the amount consumed by the Hedomamo. That fun-loving group is the major purchaser of mushrooms in the rain forest, spending a large chunk of their wealth to acquire them.”
“Why wasn’t the topic of the mushrooms brought up at the Mexamamo meeting?” asked Rick.
“It’s a sensitive topic because some of the heads of the Mexamamo kin groups are directly involved in the mushroom trade and have become wealthy from it. The Hay Fay has to remain sensitive to their influence within his society. What else did you notice about the meeting?”
“The discussion about birth control was tense,” responded Rick. “When the Leader brought it up, Pad Ray Altura, who I understand is their religious leader, broke into the discussion and took a firm position against all birth control.”
“Yes, I heard about that. I’ll bet it was tense. The Mexamamo priests occupy an important place in that society. Remarkably, the priests argue that they’re the only ones in their society who can talk to god, or rephrased in our terms, that they’re the only ones who can make up religion. Then they made up rules prohibiting birth control, thereby irresponsibly growing their denomination. Remarkably, the Mexamamo have accepted the priests’ self-serving arguments and hold them in high regard. Quite a gig if you can get it,” he said, smiling sarcastically.
“Within our society,” he continued, “we have greatly improved and expanded the availability of birth control over the years, and have shared our knowledge with other groups in the region. From the beginning, the Mexamamo priests were opposed to it. In our opinion, their argument isn’t rational. They have many children and devote a lot of resources to caring for them before they reach productive years. It saps the energy of adults that could be used instead to increase their social and individual wealth. As you saw, their children were everywhere and there weren’t enough Mexamamo adults to control them. It’s difficult to keep them under wraps and it’s difficult to educate them because there aren’t enough teachers and resources to teach them effectively.”
“Their education does not take place in classrooms, does it?” asked Rick. “They teach their children the skills they need by showing them how to do tasks outside the classroom, so what difference does it make?”
“Yes, it’s hands-on, as you suggest, teaching by demonstration, but it’s still education, and there aren’t enough adults to do it properly. They tried classrooms briefly but weren’t able to do it for the same reason. They leave whole areas such as botany, literature, and mathematics unlearned.”
“In spite of the problems caused by their high birth rate, shouldn’t the Mexamamo make their own decision about whether they want to use birth control?” asked Rick.
“Of course. They can make any choice they wish. We have a deep respect for the rights of all people—Mexamamo and others alike—to make their own decisions about how they choose to live. We do not pressure anyone to change. To the contrary, we recommend that any society choose for themselves new elements for adoption, after thinking carefully about them, of course, and that’s the problem. It’s difficult for the Mexamamo to make an informed, rational decision about birth control because their religion prohibits it. Their priests have made up their religion to prohibit birth control,” continued the Archbishop with some sadness in his voice, “and the way they have made it up is holding back their society. It’s unlikely that the Mexamamo will ever achieve a high level of prosperity unless they get their birth rate under control.”
“Do you think the priests can make up the tenets differently?”
“Unquestionably. It’s not a big leap once you realize that religious beliefs are made up. The Pad Ray Altura could make up the tenets in a way that benefits his
society, not in a way that benefits his denomination to the detriment of his society.”
“How could the change be made?”
“The people could insist that their religion be made up differently.”
“Wouldn’t the priests push back, citing existing religious doctrine?”
“I’m sure they would. The change can be achieved, however, if the Mexamamo people realize they hold ultimate power. After all, they’re the sole support of the religion through their gifts and attendance. This arrangement makes the solution simple, sure, and swift. Once the Mexamamo people are resolute, all they have to do is tell the priests they want a different theological position to be made up or everyone will immediately stop all support for the religion. If that were done, I assure you the religious doctrine would change forthwith.”
“The priests would make up the religious tenets differently?”
“Yes, and they would do so immediately,” said the Archbishop.
“Heavy-handed, isn’t it?” suggested Rick.
The Archbishop paused, before concluding, “Perhaps, but warranted. Remember, it’s the religion that’s immoral in this case, not the use of birth control.”
I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it’s a limit that’s very seldom mentioned. It’s the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy…. I’ve got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven’t got a right to press it on anybody else. ....Nobody’s got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.
H. L. Mencken
The Blue Disc Page 28
