Hands Free
Posted By Randy on April 20, 2020
Indigenous Ability is the title of an excellent blog written and updated regularly by Mark Hatmaker for the purpose of “Examining & Resurrecting Indigenous Skills and Frontier Rough & Tumble Combat”. In this, it succeeds admirably, to the point where even those labouring under the travails of urban living would do well to drink deeply and often from that well.
In his 9 April 2020 post titled Move Like a Scout or Indigenous Warrior, Mr. Hatmaker laid out, and then categorized elements of the subject matter, including four attributes of what he referred to as, “This School of Movement/Skulking Thought”. The third of these was:
“Hands-Free. A remarkable amount of the movement is predicated on leaving the hands free (even when on the ground) for weapons access or ‘brush-clearing,’ or in some tribal schools of thought, items in the hand ‘steal the mind.’
“That is, you think about what you grasp even if you are not thinking about it. To refine that thought, some aspect of your attention must be spent on a grasped item. (Ponder that next time you realize your phone is being carried in your hand even when not in current use.)
“As a loose rule for some tribes, if it was not a weapon or tool for imminent use, or the hand of a loved one, your hand was to be free so the mind could be free.”
It is this concept that gave me the first inspiration for the poem that follows, and Mrs. LFM’s photo from last week that completed it.
Hands Free
By LFM
He travels best who treads beneath
An unencumbered mind,
So shoulder what the trip requires,
And leave the rest behind.
For a mind’s more prone to boggle
That must juggle the demands
Of cargo that’s best stowed away,
Yet occupies the hands.
Let mind and hand be one and free,
Ere push should come to shove,
To grasp a tool, a weapon,
Or the hand of one you Love.
He travels best on any trail,
However foul the day,
Whose every need and every want
Are but arm’s length away.
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