The following discussion this week captured the wonders of the Mayan ball game for the Mayan culture, the division among two great geographical sides through the religious beliefs among civilizations, and the unfair stories matched up against society.
The Mayan ball game was a sacrificial event between two teams who fought for their life, a battle among warriors through the origin of an old story. The origin came about two brothers who spent their time playing a ball game, and later tricked by the underworld gods to play in their underworld domain. Ultimately, they were sacrificed by the gods to be transformed by the moon and sun. The Mayan people have carried this game through generations as a tradition, as the game itself brought significance to their world. The sacrifice of the brothers were a resemblance of the balance brought through the sun and moon, reminding the Mayan people that sacrifices must be made to the gods in order to bring balance in their own lives. This could be reflected upon the First Nations in Canada, although it is not involved with sports, they hold traditions among their land animals. Every kill on hunts would only be a sacrifice they would make to provide opportunity towards their culture, it created a balance between the sacrifice on their land animals for food, tools, and life.
The division between the East and West was through a rift within the religious groups held in the geographical areas. In ‘The west consisted of being Christian, which originally came from the east but still considered their side as superior, strong, and powerful. The west prospered due to their individuality while the east suffered through the variance in religions. The ‘Myth of Continents’ mentioned the east was recognized as barbaric and racists, struggling to stabilize the eastern civilization as their problems influenced their aim to gain a greater world stance. Through generations we evolved to maintain our different religious beliefs through community churches and establish an acceptance among our history. The shift is now towards politics dividing our geographical areas for dominance. For instance, the rising tensions between USA and China for power has evolved due to their political drama, proceeding towards conflict between the leaders for protecting the values of their country and people.
The ‘The Danger of Single Story ‘ was a take on the stereotypes societies have developed for different cultures around the world. Individuals take an easy route to undermine others through one fact, rather than listening to the rest of the complete story. There are flaws within ourselves and we consider those flaws as the picture others around us, only to support us in identifying cultures or groups. However, we must listen and take time to complete the story by including the sides of perfections and success in order to comprehend the actual image we make upon individuals. A great example would be the current situation of ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, a fight for equality through unjustified accusations towards a specific group of people. This story is a significant idea in today’s world and an issue we are currently resolving. Issues such as police brutality consists of officers creating false ideas on individuals that lead them to make painful, and horrifying decisions. This movement is a powerful example, as many African-Americans are immigrants who struggled to manage a life in America, and many are being undermined in today’s society.
REFERENCES:
Mayan Ball game:
https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/le/content/309867/viewContent/4059499/View
https://www.ancient.eu/article/604/the-ball-game-of-mesoamerica/
East and West: https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=877899
TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/up-next?language=en#t-1107534
*Personal connections/real world examples were from experience in my life
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