There is a piece in the Washington Post today about the high rate of teenage suicide in Indian and Eskimo reservations. They blame everything imaginable and relate all that has been spent and done that has not helped, in fact somehow it just keeps getting worse. It seems to me that when there was little known about our origin, history was oral, and knowledge of others was not widely dispersed, the Tribe was probably necessary to preserve the life and safety of the members. To preserve the Tribe, the members were taught that they "belonged" to the tribe. There is no concept of the individual owning his own life. Any group of people that live on a reservation at the mercy of a government that feel that they only exist as a part of that group are going to feel a lot of despair. There is no hope or sense of self worth. There is nothing to aspire to. Drugs and alcohol add to the woes and more give away programs further erode self esteem. The idea that Native Americans should be "taken care of" on pieces of land assigned to them is completing the genocide that was interrupted in the early 20th Century. The saddest part is that we have partially done the same thing to the slaves that were freed in 1863 and the cradle to grave social programs that are in store for the rest of us will lead to the same fate. Any organization of humans not based on individual rights will fail by killing off all its constituents.