The Gods Must Be Crazy

It looks like a paradise, but it is the

most treacherous desert in the world:

The Kalahari.

After the short rainy season...

...there are many water holes,

and even rivers.

But after a few weeks, the water sinks

away into the deep Kalahari sand.

The water holes dry,

and the rivers stop flowing.

The grass fades to a beautiful

blond colour...

...that offers excellent grazing.

But for the next nine months,

there`ll be no water to drink.

So most of the animals move away,

leaving the blond grass uneaten.

Humans avoid the Kalahari like the

plague because man must have water.

So the beautiful landscapes

are devoid of people.

Except for the little people

of the Kalahari.

Pretty, dainty, small and graceful,

the Bushmen.

Where any other person

would die of thirst in a few days...

...they live quite contentedly

in this desert.

They know where to dig for roots

and bugs and tubers...

...and which berries and pods

are good to eat.

Of course they know what to do

about water.

In the early morning,

you can collect dewdrops...

...from leaves that were carefully

laid out the previous evening.

Or a plume of grass

can be a reservoir.

If you have the know-how, a clump

of twigs can tell you where to dig...

...and you come to light

with an enormous tuber.

You scrape shavings off it with a stick

that is split for a sharp edge.

You take a handful of the shavings, point

your thumb at your mouth and squeeze.

They must be the most

contented people in the world.

They have no crime, no punishment,

no violence, no laws...

...no police, judges, rulers or bosses.

They believe that the gods put only good

and useful things on the earth for them.

In this world of theirs,

nothing is bad or evil.

Even a poisonous snake is not bad.

You just have to keep away

from the sharp end.

Actually, a snake is very good.

In fact, it`s delicious.

And the skin makes a fine pouch.

They live in the vastness of the

Kalahari in small family groups.

One family of Bushmen might meet up

with another once in a few years.

But for the most part,

they live in complete isolation...

...unaware there are other people

in the world.

In the deep Kalahari, there are Bushmen

who have not heard of civilized man.

Sometimes they hear a thundering

sound when there are no clouds.

They assume the gods have eaten too

much and their tummies are rumbling.

Sometimes they can even see

the evidence of the gods` flatulence.

Their language has

an idiosyncrasy of its own.

It seems to consist

mainly of clicking sounds.

They`re very gentle people.

They`ll never punish a child

or even speak harshly to it.

So the kids are extremely well-behaved.

Their games are cute and inventive.

When the family needs meat...

...the hunter dips his arrow

in a brew that acts as a tranquilliser.

When he shoots a buck, it feels

a sting and the arrow drops out.

The buck runs away,

but soon it gets drowsy...

...and it stops running.

After a while, it goes to sleep.

The hunter apologizes. He explains

that his family needs the meat.

The characteristic which really makes

them different from all other races...

...is that they have

no sense of ownership at all.

Where they live,

there`s nothing you can own.

Only trees and grass and animals.

These Bushmen have never seen

a stone or a rock in their lives.

The hardest things they know

are wood and bone.

They live in a gentle world, where nothing

is as hard as rock, steel or concrete.

Only 600 miles to the south,

there`s a vast city.

And here you find civilized man.

Civilized man refused

to adapt himself to his environment.

Instead he adapted his environment

to suit him.

So he built cities, roads,

vehicles, machinery.

And he put up power lines

to run his labour-saving devices.

But he didn`t know when to stop.

The more he improved his

surroundings to make life easier...

...the more complicated he made it.

Now his children are sentenced to

...how to survive in this complex

and hazardous habitat.

And civilized man, who refused

to adapt to his surroundings...

...now finds he has to adapt

and re-adapt...

...every hour of the day

to his self-created environment.

For instance, if it`s Monday...

...and 7:
30 comes up, you have to dis-

adapt from your domestic surroundings...

...and re-adapt yourself to an

entirely different environment.

has to look busy.

I`ve got a good story

about handicapped chiIdren.

Handicapped children? No! You don`t

recommend stuff you don`t....

Sorry. I`II onIy print sweetness and Iight,

even if it bores the pants off them.

busy for 1 5 minutes.

And then,

you have to look busy again.

-Hi, Kate.

-Hi, Pete.

Can you use this about the

teacher shortage in Botswana?

-Good story?

-Yeah.

They`II take anybody

who can read and write.

I don`t know. I got bawIed out

for writing a story on mugging.

My page shouId be sweet and Iight,

Iike Liberace and Jackie Onassis.

Your day is chopped into pieces.

In each segment of time...

-...you adapt to new circumstances.

-May I share a tabIe?

No wonder some people go

off the rails a bit.

Does the noise in my head

bother you?

No.

StiII got that story about

the teacher shortage in Botswana?

-Yeah. You gonna use it?

-No. Maybe they can use me.

In the Kalahari, it`s always Tuesday,

or Thursday if you like. Or Sunday.

No clocks or calendars tell you

to do this or that.

Lately, strange new things

sometimes appeared in the sky.

Noisy birds that flew

without flapping their wings.

One day, something fell from the sky.

Xi had never seen anything

like this in his life.

It looked like water, but it was harder

than anything else in the world.

He wondered why the gods

had sent this thing down to the earth.

It was the strangest and most

beautiful thing they had ever seen.

They wondered why the gods

had sent it to them.

Pabo got his finger stuck in the thing and

the children thought he was very funny.

Xi tried the thing out to cure thongs.

It had the right shape and weight.

It was also beautifully smooth

and ideal for curing snakeskin.

And Pabo discovered

you could make music on it.

And every day they discovered

a new use for the thing.

It was harder and heavier and smoother

than anything they`d ever known.

It was the most useful thing

the gods had ever given them.

A real labour-saving device.

But the gods had been careless.

They had sent only one.

Now, for the first time, here was a

thing that could not be shared...

...because there was only one of it.

Suddenly, everybody needed it

most of the time.

A thing they had never needed before

became a necessity.

And unfamiliar emotions

began to stir.

A feeling of wanting to own,

of not wanting to share.

Other new things came.

Anger, jealousy, hate and violence.

Xi was angry with the gods.

He shouted, ``Take back your thing!

We don`t want it!

Look at the trouble it brought. ``

The gods did not take it back.

He shouted, ``You must be crazy

to send us this thing! Take it back!``

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