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While visiting the B.R. hills in South India, I met doctors who are struggling to compromise the many angles of indigenous knowledge and modern science. One of the most provocative, obviously, is the question of medical treatment. A great deal of child deaths occur partly because of what a lot of "us," would call ignorance - not realizing that something that has "always been done," sometimes as religious ritual - is actually harmful. Doctors are working to cautiously tread the line of respect for threatened cultures, and respect for life, especially when a large portion of indigenous or ancient practices are more beneficial to health than the way in which many of us live.

I would say that respect for life usually wins out.

My point is, that we often think of tribal groups in the jungles of India as "primitive," or uncivilized, or worlds and ages away from us, in urban centers in the United States. But we should remember we are struggling with the same conflicts and boundaries.

I don't think prosecution is necessarily a helpful solution. It is usually education that makes a difference. I don't know the details of this latest case, but I have a strong feeling that the community surrounding those parents played a large part in influencing the parents and obscuring avenues of possible medical help.

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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