First Thought

                Once, there was a thought. An idea that was so unusual, it could not be forgotten. Somehow, it had to be remembered, but how? The man with the thought looked at his hands, thinking of some way to record his precious thought. Confounded, he looks for something to use. He needed to do something with his thought. He looks around his cave, only seeing rocks. He picks up a rock and becomes aggravated. How can he make this thought not go away? Out of frustration, he throws the rock at the wall of his cave. He puts his face roughly into his hands, feeling beads of sweat from the frustration of thinking so hard. Suddenly, he looked where he threw the rock and sees a small white mark. He looks at it strangely. He touched it, seeing if the mark would go away from his touch. It stayed there on the wall. He looked at the rock that made the mark, and threw it at the wall again. Another white mark appeared. He smiled through his toothless smile that was barely seen through all his facial hair. Slowly, he picked up the rock again, and put it against the cave wall in a downward motion. Suddenly, he stopped and jumped up and down excitedly. He drew a line, a thin white line on the cave wall. Going back to the line, he put a circle on top and to little lines at the bottom going in opposite directions. Pleased with his picture, he drew another identical figure next to it. His thought was now transferred from his mind to the wall. Pleased with what he did, he made a cry. Suddenly, other hairy people came to his cave. The man with the thought looked at them and pointed to his picture. The others looked at the picture of two stick people on the wall. He pointed to himself, saying

                “Umn!” Then he pointed to one of the stick people, saying “Umn!” The man with the thought repeated the action with the other stick figure, calling it “Umn!” Confused, the others looked at him, with questionable looks on their faces, not understanding what just happened. The man with the thought repeated the action. He point to himself and then one of the stick figures, saying “Umn!” Then, he repeated the action with the other stick figure, saying “Umn!” Suddenly, one of the others approached the man with the thought. He looked at the man and then the picture. He points to the man with the thought, saying “Umn!”, then points to the picture, saying “Umn!” The man with the thought smiled. The other man smiled too, understanding. The other man repeated the action again with the other picture calling the man with the thought “Umn!” and the picture “Umn!” The man with the thought smiled. The other man looked at the group of others, and smiled, understanding the thought. The other man looks at a girl of the tribe. He points to himself, saying “Nmf!” and points to the drawing, calling it “Nmf!” She smiles and points to herself, saying “Gunj!” and points to the drawing, saying “Gunj!” Soon, everyone in the tribe started to call themselves to others. The others saw themselves in a new light. They were not things that walk on two legs. They were there and they were able to acknowledge that they were there. They were no longer others, but acknowledged ones. As time goes on, so does the idea of being here and being alive. That acknowledgement of being here brought other questions, like “Why am I here?” or “How did I come to be?” Based on this simple principle of being here, names were given. To call on the acknowledge ones and to understand one another, language was invented. With language, came tools to bring better food for the acknowledged ones. Then, the acknowledged ones needed better shelter, and houses were invented. With the houses, came agriculture. The acknowledged ones wished to think more about their purpose of being here instead of hunting. Agriculture gave the acknowledged ones more time to dwell on the purpose of being. Towns were started, clothes were put on their backs, and society was born. All due to one simple thought that a man had, long ago. In our language, the thought is translated to “I am me.”