This Land is My Land

Tom, a scraggly settler enters a new territory with a crew of 6 men, weapons and food. A tribalistic civilization is peacefully settled on the land. There is plenty of open space, but also modest agriculture, trees and homemade tools. 

Tom encounters the tribal camp and meets one of the inhabitants named Jurioz. Jurioz greets Tom with a bow and a smile. 

Jurioz: Hello, kind sir. I am grateful for your presence. What brings you to this part of the world? 

Tom: I am here to seek out new territories to inhabitant. With my crew, we can turn this land into a successful and profitable enterprise. 

Jurioz: I do not understand your words. Are you here to live with us? 

Tom: This land looks fertile and I think that this land would suit our best interests. This land could be our land. 

Jurioz: Oh, you want to share your land with us? 

Tom: Not quite, it seems as if your little tribe might be in the middle of our idea for operations. We may have to move you all. 

Jurioz: I still do not understand. You are welcome to share the land and help us maintain and grow our small self sustaining community, but we have traveled many miles to find a place like this. 

Tom: I believe we have different interests, we must make money to get more things and expand our small empire. This land would be perfect. We can offer you money to move and help you move your community. How does that sound? 

Jurioz: I do not see how you can just think you can take over such a beautiful bounty that we live amongst. What is this money you talk of? I do not believe it will be of much service to us. 

Tom: You drive a hard bargain. How exactly do you all profit off this land? 

Jurioz: We do not have a profit. We live with the land and develop with what we need. We have healthy women and children and men willing to protect the entire tribe. It begins with respecting the land. 

Tom: Well it seems as if we have a higher purpose. We can do more with this land which makes us more entitled to the land. Some of these trees and shrubbery may have to come down, but otherwise there is quite a potential for development. 

Jurioz: How does one claim ownership of land? Shouldn't land be shared with all living creatures? How does one see his land as MY land? 

Tom: Well, this land suits our own personal interests for what we want to do. It will make us more wealthy and enrich our lives with what we can sell. We shall take advantage of the land and prosper from the fruits of our labor. 

Jurioz: We prosper from what we need and everything else is taken care of. We save, we grow and we support what is best for everyone. This land should not be destroyed for the greed and affluence of a collected few. 

Tom: I guess we can not agree. We have different ideas on how to live and prosper. We have force and guns to help us get what we want. If you all cannot settle than we must take what we want with force. 

Jurioz: We do not understand this aggression. We do not have weapons to rival your cavalry. I guess we must surrender. 

Tom: Well, we can offer you work for the chance to share our profit. We can start you out small and then offer you more. Possibly housing next to work so it will be  easier for you all to live. 

Jurioz: We already live off the land and have no need to slave over riches. We shall move to another place. 

Tom: Alright boys you heard them, let's set up camp and start making money! 

The tribe packs up within the next few days. Tom and his crew take over the camp and decide to employ some of the men for work. Some of the tribal men only agree to work so they can support their families that leave. The original tribe is divided and settles in various unsuccessful locations. More of the men are forced to come back in order to work hard for very little. They become desperate and invite their families closer so they can be fed and supported. 

Tom talks to his new crew. 

Tom: Look how we have prospered. We shall expand this new business in new and exciting areas once we have drained this land for what it can offer. We must grow! 

Two of the converted tribal men shake their heads and sob. One whispers to the other. 

" We had all we could ever want. Who would of thought that wanting more could be the end of all of us? "

-DG