What is a windigo to you? What would be analogous to a windigo in your culture, religion, or lore? (250 word minimum)
A windigo, to me, represents the selfish, primal nature that exists within all of us. This nature often shows itself in the form of our overconsumption. With our access to resources having improved drastically in the last 100 years, those who have the greatest access often take more than they need. We eat more food than we need to be satiated, we take more from the earth than we actually use, and we buy more and more useless gadgets and accessories while many people cannot even afford to rent an apartment. I believe that this reflects a primal nature that has existed in humanity since we came into existence. There has always been a “us vs them” mentality in us, which has directly led to a lack of empathy in our modern society.
This windigo is a direct representation of this endless hunger for “more”. It is our desire to take as much for ourselves as possible, because we know the “others” are going to do the exact same thing. The closest thing I could find to compare this entity to is the Seven Deadly Sins. Three of these sins, pride, greed, and gluttony, can be summed up into the idea of believing that you are better than the people around you. Pride, specifically, is centered around having a higher view of yourself compared to others. Meanwhile, greed and gluttony both focus on taking more than what you need, disregarding the needs of those around you. Wrath and envy, two more deadly sins, represent hatred or dislike for people who are not like you.
What is your favorite new word or phrase you’ve learned reading this book and why? What chapter of the book did this phrase appear? 100 word minimum)
“Even a wounded world is feeding us”. This quote stood out to me specifically because of what it means for humanity as a species. Despite all the damage we have made to our planet, it is still able to sustain and entertain our growing populations. While the effects of human activities, such as global warming and deforestation, are not permanent, they have still caused a major change in the
Earth. It makes me realize that we do not deserve the world that we live in. We take nearly everything from the natural world and do not appreciate the benefits that it gives us. We do not even make any efforts to make up for our shortcomings; we just continue to make the same mistakes repeatedly.