Saturday, November 19, 2016

AROUND THE VILLAGE (B)

At times, when playing outside when the northern lights were at their most active the kids would be more subdued than usual. Even the adults didn’t want to yell or exhibited an extra aura of fear in their speech. They didn’t want to say anything negative nor tick off the old religion ancient native deities while they were doing their thing and going about their usual daily life routine. Being under the amazing display in the heavens was now not regarded as special anymore to the locals who live in that area since they have seen it so many times each year, every year just like a holiday season. It was just part of the routine in contrast to the tourists who were fascinated by its newness. An apt description by the elders would be like an animal’s tail whipping against the sky while creating sparks at the same time. Mekkar has never bothered to research what the Northern Lights phenomenon really is in its true scientific state. The reason could be possibly to native superstitions or a set of beliefs in legends passed down to him from a few adults in the village. [nordicway.com; Aurora hunters - ft.com; Aurorafires.ie; Wikipedia; bestnorwegian.com; hellomagazine.com]  

However, Mekkar could never completely discount and shun the old ways because they had been ingrained internally into the very fabric of his being. Plus, when Mekkar was younger during times on the reindeer trek, he spent much time with Aslak, and they would together ponder the mysteries of the universe. However, Mekkar at other times would try to avoid Aslak when the elder would be in his trance-like state or conducting his medicine man duties. Mekkar would get spooked and creeped out by the unfamiliar other realm spiritual stuff the boy saw and referred to it as such. The Native from the North could sense, even though he couldn’t always describe it, the power Aslak had during some of their verbal interaction sessions. Other times, Mekkar would sneakily or stealthily so he thought, observe various leader meeting of the minds sessions during the animal migrations. No matter if whether he comprehended it or not, Mekkar realized that there was a whole other unseen realm/dimension that he didn’t understand. Even after being around Aslak for so long in the small village and seeing some of these activities, Mekkar wanted to stay away. Especially from some of the deeper aspects which he felt would impact him. He felt getting involved with those aspects was playing with fire and Mekkar didn’t want to get burned. At this point, the Arctic boy still didn’t comprehend what was really taking place at these sessions and scared at the possible effects upon him.

Alf called it by what he thought it was, Mekkar’s insolence, and Alf didn’t feel that Mekkar cared one bit about the old ways and mannerisms of their native culture. Even though Alf shied away from admitting that he was a native altogether. Alf felt that Mekkar also was not concerned about ticking off the old native religious deities. Alf, Mekkar’s younger brother, had even said this a few times previously by describing Mekkar as having a smart mouth and manner of speech. The sibling stated that it was also getting worse by the day as Mekkar got older. Mekkar thought this was an unjustified perception of him by his sibling considering that Alf rarely admitted his native status to avoid persecution and negative judgment by others. Mekkar commented that his brother could get away with this due to his non-native appearance. Alf would go on to describe that his older sibling as showing early hints of a screw you attitude towards the world in some aspects of Mekkar’s character. Mekkar thought Alf was sort of judgmental against him when he was attempting to avoid that very thing from outsiders. Alf had pointed out, what he thought was the recognition of these flaws regarding Mekkar to his face. Still, Mekkar just brushed them aside and attributed those comments as just part of sibling rivalry issues.

Mekkar feels that no being, high or low, or person should receive automatic respect from him because of one’s position in life or occupation, no matter who they are. He knows that his belief in that area is extremely contrary to most people. To Mekkar, one has to earn his respect on an individual case by case basis. Mekkar also has this concept, that he is so well adjusted enough and has a fairly good level of knowledge of the world, as a result of his travels, reading, and through other methods of learning. Mekkar reveals this attitude and point in one of many blunt statements, “If I don’t know who you are, then you are not a star. It doesn’t matter who or how big or famous you think you are.” Mekkar knows this is a cocky stance and refuses to back down from it and this thinking has never wavered in Mekkar’s mind even to this very day and it will definitely never change with him.

On the other hand, Alf and Lasse both are of the opinion that there is just a little too much cockiness on the part of Mekkar. When they noticed that trend, they increased the amount of pranks they would play on him. The idea was to try to temper that big ego they feel is growing too quickly and put him in his place. Basically, Mekkar’s younger brother and best friend think Mekkar is full of himself most of the time and just likes to run his mouth. Other adults regard it as a matter of a teenager who thinks that they know everything and are always right about everything. But, adults usually know that is not the case and have learned from experience that the opposite is true. If a person is honest, what parent hasn’t encountered that in their children, especially teenagers, anywhere on the planet?

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