The Importance of Documented Rules and Written Documents

Documented rules can be traced all the way back to the Indians. Today, when we think of documented rules we think of documents such as, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and maybe even important treaties. Whether we know it or not, documented rules are a big part of our lives.

The first people to really start the "trend" of documented rules were the Indians. Some tribes even have their own Constitution. Without the written rules the Indians wouldn't have been able to "divide land" equally, or even establish their own culture. If you think about it, ask yourself, what was different about the culture of each Indian tribe? When I think about it, my answer is the rules. Each tribe had their own set of rules and that in itself distinguished the tribes.

Today we have rules that are as complex as the Declaration, that speaks to the entire country, and as simple as classroom rules, that every year we go over for the first week. Even though the Declaration is very famous and your classroom rules are not, the importance and meanings are the same.

We have even gotten some of our rules from the Indians and other groups that organized in America. Without the written documents that they wrote, our Constitution or Bill of Rights wouldn't be the same.

Written documents are not just rules written down, they can also be stories of what happened back in say the 1800s. Historians have gathered so much information, just by looking at diaries and stories from people back throughout history. Things like Anne Franks diary and stories from the Civil War have helped us gain knowledge of what it was like back during those time periods. With documents from the Great Depression we can try to learn from our mistakes and do better in the future.

So as you can see, written documents have in a way helped shape our history and our future by learning from our past mistakes and also learning of what life was like back before technology.

Native American Writings- "How the World was Made"

In the literary Native American writing "How the World Was Made" it shows great relationship between between the animals/nature, with the humans. The animals of the country acted as one with Mother Nature. It tells of the Great Buzzard sweeping down from above to make sure the land was ready for all the animals, and in doing so made mountains with his sweeping movements. The story shows their values of religion when they state that the "conjurers" (definition: one who performs magic) helped with the suns distance from Earth. That shows that they believed in gods who performed magic to help them survive. Animals acted one with nature another time when everything on Earth had to stay awake for seven days and seven nights. That decided what animals were nocturnal and what animals were not (animals like the owl and the panther). It also decided what trees would keep their leaves year round and which ones would not (like the holly, laurel, spruce, pine, and cedar). This proves that nature acted as one with the animals. Native American writings were about religion, nature, and human nature to just name a few. I think this story is a good example of those three things.

Knowing what trees stayed green all year long also helped the people know what trees where good for medicine, and if so, what type of medicine. Another thing that the story helped its people understand was the fact of how often women could have babies. Another things that the Native American writings did, was that it taught the people lessons, rules, and gave them advice. The two examples above prove that their story telling helped generation after generation survive when it matter the most. Not to mention that this story also tells of how the world was made to its people as well. The writing produced were overall a great help to all of the people that read them and gave them tips on how to live one with nature.

Symbolism: The Old Man and the Sea

I have never seen Christian symbolism used this much in a book as I have in The Old Man and the Sea. In Ernest Hemingway's classic book, he takes an old fisherman and his sad story and resembles it to familiar stories in the Bible.
Just like Santiago suffered much as he was out at sea, so did Christ in his passion to get forgiveness for His people. Santiago also went forty days without catching a fish. In the Bible most things that went on for forty days were incidents of trials and suffering. Stories like; Noah going forty days and forty nights in his ark, Jesus getting tempted by the devil, and the wandering time the Israelites spent in the desert. Like Santiago, the majority of Jesus' disciples were fishermen. They all left what they were doing to come follow Christ. Overall, the symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea is significant and often when it comes to resemble stories from the Bible.