Don T Sleep There Are Snakes Analysis

Malcolm X once said “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepared for it today.” In the western world education plays a vital role in shaping our future; it determines if we will survive or fail in the world we created for ourselves. Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from cultural differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. With the power of education we are able to deal with the problems of economic, government, religion and culture differences.
In Don’t Sleep there are Snakes by Daniel Everett, Everett goes to Africa to convert a tribe called the Pirahas to Christians. Everett believed he would be able to convert the Piraha’s without a hitch but then he was met with something that he did not expect at all. Everything that the Pirahas did contradicted with what he learned in the culture he grew up with making it impossible to convert them. One thing

Since they live in the now they see no point in preparing for what may or not come. “For example if they need to carry something in a basket, they will weave a basket on the spot from wet palm leaves. After one or two uses these baskets become dried out and fragile, and they are abandoned.” (73) Although they could easily use the same techniques they used to weave the less durable baskets and instead use stronger rope to make longer lasting baskets but they don’t. Not because they never thought of it but just simply because they do not want to. This is ridiculous considering that eventually they are going need a basket so that means that the Piraha would have to make another basket which is just a waste of time. I could not imagine having to recreate something every time I had to use it. As a society we would not be able to move forward into the future if we had to start from scratch every