Daily Dialogue — September 14, 2014

JACK CRABB: You mean you’re blind?
OLD LODGE SKINS: Oh no. My eyes still see. But my heart no longer receives it.
JACK CRABB: How did it happen?
OLD LODGE SKINS: White man.
JACK CRABB: Where’s Buffalo Wallow Woman?
OLD LODGE SKINS: Rubbed out. And White Elk Woman too. And Dirt On The Nose. And High Wolf. And many others.
JACK CRABB: And Burns Red?
OLD LODGE SKINS: Yes.
JACK CRABB: Burns Red in the Sun?
OLD LODGE SKINS: Rubbed out. His wife. His children. And many more.
JACK CRABB: Do you hate them? Do you hate the White Man now?

The old man pulls a scalp from his belongings.

OLD LODGE SKINS: Do you see this fine thing? Do you admire the humanity of it? Because the Human Beings, my son, they believe that everything is alive. Not only man and animals, but also water, earth, stone. And also the things from them, like that hair. The man from whom this hair came, he’s bald on the other side, because I now own his scalp. That is the way things are. But the White Man, they believe everything is dead. Stone, earth, animals, and PEOPLE. EVEN THEIR OWN PEOPLE. If things keep trying to live, White Man will rub them out. That is the difference.”

— Little Big Man (1970), screenplay by Calder Willingham, from the novel by Thomas Berger

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Wisdom. Today’s suggestion by John Arends.

Trivia: The line “Today, is a good day to die.” largely used by Star Trek Klingons was first said in this film by Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George). Little Big Man was an actual historical figure. He was a Native American, an Oglala Lakota, who was a fearless and respected warrior who fought under, and was rivals with, Crazy Horse. He also fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn, a battle which is depicted in this film.

Dialogue On Dialogue: I saw this movie visiting my brother at the University of Virginia where he was attending law school (I was a senior in high school). There are scenes that are seared into my memories… including this one. The horror of the ‘white man’ and their mistreatment of the Indians. Old Lodge Skins cannot comprehend why. Neither can I. Thus this wisdom is swathed in bitterness.