Broken Bones ~ Páirc an Áir

Tá leasú ag Ó Ceallaigh ‘s ní gaineamh é ná aoileach,

Ach saighdiúirí tapaidh dhéanfadh gaisce le píce;

Do fágadh iad in Eachroim ina sraitheanna sínte,

Mar bheadh feoil chapaill ag madraí á sraoilleadh.

Och, Ochón…

(Scroll down for text in English)  Ní fios cé scríobh an dán seo faoi Eachroim an Áir agus Pádraig Sairséal – ach m’anam, nach bhfuil an slad céanna le feiceáil againn gach oíche ar an dteilifís – le naoi mhí anuas.  Ní eachtra sa stair é seo ach slad atá ag tarlúint os ár gcomhair agus gan éinne sásta stop a chur leis.

Ach tá scéal eile agam daoibh inniu, scéal deas a chuala mé le déanaí faoi Margaret Mead, antraipeolaí, údar agus léirmheastóir sóisialta ó Nua-Eabhrac.  Shíl mé go n-insfinn é mar chodarsnacht.

Blianta ó shin, d’iarr mac léinn ar Mead céard a mheas sí gurb é an chéad chomhartha de shibhialtacht i gcultúr ársa.  Is dóigh gur cheap an mac léinn go luadh sí duáin éisc nó potaí cré nó rud éicint mar sin ach nó – dúirt Mead gurb é céad chomhartha na sibhialtachta ná cnámh na leise (féimear) a bhí briste tráth ach a raibh leigheas tagtha air.

Líníochtaí i bpluais Lascaux na Fraince     photo: N.Aujoulat (2003)

Mhínigh sí go bhfaighfeadh gnáth ainmhí bás dá mbrisfí a chos. Ní fhéadfeadh sé rith ó chontúirt;  ní bheadh sé in ann bia a lorg ná siúl go bruach na habhann le uisce a ól, fiú.  Ní bheadh sé in ann maireachtáil fada go leor le go dtagfadh biseach air.

Ach is fianaise í an chnámh briste atá leighiste gur chaith duine eicint am ag fanacht leis an té a gortaíodh, go n-iompraíodh go tearmann é, go gceanglaíodh an chréacht, go ndearnadh cúram dó go dtí go raibh biseach air.  “Is nuair a chuidíonn muid le duine i gcruachás – sin tús na sibhialtachta”, a dúirt Mead.

Mheasas gur scéilín deas é seo le cur i gcoinne na scéalta uafásacha a chloisimid ar an nuacht faoi ospidéil á mbuamáil agus otharcharranna á ionsaí ag tír “shibhialta” (mar dhea).

But I came across a story about the late Margaret Mead, an anthropologist, author and social critic with the American Museum of Natural History in New York and I thought I’d retell it here.

Years ago, she was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilisation.  I suppose the student expected her to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or some such thing but no –  Mead said that the first sign of civilisation in an ancient culture was a thighbone that had been broken and then healed.

She explained that in the natural world, if you broke your leg, you would die. You couldn’t run from danger, you couldn’t get to the river for a drink of water and you couldn’t hunt for food.  No animal can survive a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

But a broken thighbone that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the wounded one – someone has carried them to safety, bound up their wound, fed and cared for them until they got better.  “Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilisation starts”, Mead said.

I just thought that this was a nice antidote to all the stories we hear on the news about the war crimes, the ambulances being targeted and the hospitals being bombed – by a supposedly “civilised country”.

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